HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS OF TURBULENT FLOW IN CONICAL DIFFUSER USING INTERNAL SPIRAL SQUARE

The work presents a numerical investigation of heat transfer characteristics of conical diffuser with specific dimensions, using internal spiral square rib, with air as the working fluid. The Reynolds number range based on the bulk flow rate and hydraulic diameter is 1.759 × 105 to 4.36 × 105. The conical diffuser was subjected to uniform rates of heat flux and different inlet air velocity(0.02, 0.04 and 0.06) m/s, respectively. Results show that the spiral square rib enhanced heat transfer for (ΔT=40, 38 and 35 K) corresponding to the different inlet air velocity .The data obtained were compared with plain (without rib). The cone with internal spiral square rib was found to possess the highest performance factors for turbulent flow. The heat transfer coefficient enhancement for internal spiral square rib is higher than that for plain cone for a given Reynolds number. The use of internal spiral square rib improved the performance of cone. All studies where carried out using FlUENT14.5 package, by using K-ɛ model