Computation of Compressible Flow and Heat Transfer in a Rotating Duct With Inclined Ribs and a 180-Degree Bend

Computations were performed to study the three-dimensional flow and heat transfer in a U-shaped duct of square cross section with and without ribs under rotating and staggered inclined ribs of rounded cross sections on the leading and trailing walls. Parameters investigated include: two rotation numbers (0, 0.24), two density ratios (0.13, 0.22), and smooth versus ribbed walls at a Reynolds number of 25,000 and an inlet Mach number of 0.05. For the conditions of the present study, rib-induced secondary flows were found to dominate over those induced by the Coriolis force in terms of flow pattern. This shifted tendency for flow separation induced by centrifugal buoyancy from the leading wall to the outer-side wall for radially outward flow. The secondary flows induced by the 180-degree bend were found to be comparable to that induced by the ribs, creating very complex interactions in flow and surface heat transfer characteristics. The computations are based on the ensemble-averaged conservation equations of mass, momentum (compressible Navier-Stokes), and energy closed by a low Reynolds number k-ω model of turbulence. Solutions were generated by using a cell-centered finite-volume method based on flux-difference splitting and a diagonalized alternating-direction implicit scheme with multigrid.