Empirical and numerical assessments on corrugated and twisted channels as two enhanced geometries

Empirical and numerical efforts are performed to compare thermo-fluidic transport characteristic of two enhanced channels, namely corrugated channel (CC) and twisted channel (TC). Firstly, a brief review of previous works on both the geometries is carried out. Secondly, the transport characteristic of corrugated and twisted channels is assessed at different geometrical parameters. Then, a new enhanced channel is introduced as corrugated-twisted channel (CTC), and its performance is evaluated compared to the other channels. The empirical data are reported in terms of dimensional and dimensionless parameters as well as a performance index, and the numerical results are presented in terms of velocity field and temperature contour. The results show that the performance index of CC and CTC has a decreasing trend by increasing the Reynolds number, while the performance index of TC has an increasing trend. The performance index of the enhanced channels increases as the ratio of corrugation amplitude to channel hydraulic diameter is increased. Moreover, at the similar geometrical parameters, CTC offers the best overall hydrothermal performance, followed by CC and then TC. For instance, at the middle values of the geometrical parameters, CTC shows averagely about 8.5% and 36.1% higher than CC and TC in the overall hydrothermal performance. The inferences drawn from the current results may help nicely on the selection of enhanced channels for design and fabrication of thermal engineering systems.