Thermal performance and flow control in cross-flow heat exchangers using inclined splitter plate

The impact of inclined splitter plates on wake dynamics, heat transfer properties, and pressure drop in a flow around a circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers 5500, 8500, 11,500, and 14,500 is examined numerically in this work. To determine their impact on flow structures and convective heat transfer, the splitter plate length-to-diameter ratios (L/D) of 0, 0.5, 2, and 3 as well as the inclination angles of 0°, 15°, and 30° are examined. The Nusselt number increased by the largest percentage, 78.82 %, at α = 30° at Re = 5500. For instance, the increase in the Nusselt number reached 50.91 % at Re = 11,500 & 47.64 % at Re = 14,500. The results show that raising the inclination angle improves heat transmission performance. At α = 30° and Re = 5500, the performance evaluation criterion (PEC) peaks at 3.49, indicating a substantial trade-off between pressure loss and heat transfer enhancement. Heat transfer improves with increasing L/D, reaching a maximum at L/D = 3, according to an analysis of the influence of splitter plate length (L/D) at α = 15° At L/D = 2, the PEC value is maximum, suggesting that pressure loss and heat transfer enhancement are optimally balanced. But pressure penalties increase significantly when L/D = 2. At Re = 5500, the Nusselt number increases by 25.4 %, from 37.17 at L/D = 0.5 to 46.65 at L/D = 3. Similarly, the Nusselt number rises at Re = 14,500 from 78.90 at L/D = 0.5 to 85.20 at L/D = 3. The coefficient of friction exhibits an increasing trend with increasing L/D, peaking at 0.189 for L/D = 3 and Re = 5500. By aligning with contour and streamline patterns that validate the wake flow adjustments, the study offers insight into optimizing splitter plate layouts for enhanced heat exchanger performance.