Average Heat Transfer Coefficient in Rectangular Ducts with Baffle Blockages

Authors

1 Mechanical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology

2 Mechanical Engineering, Southern Illinois University

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the average and the fully-developed heat (mass) transfer coefficients in a rectangular smooth duct and a duct with repeated-baffle blockages. The focus of attention in this work is the conventional correlation Nu / Nufd 1 + C / ( X / D ) for the average heat transfer coefficient. It was shown that for relatively short ducts, the coefficient C is not constant but, in general, it depends on the length of the duct. The experiments were carried out via a mass transfer technique and the analogy between heat and mass transfer was employed to predict the heat transfer coefficients. The flow Reynolds number ranged from 3000 to 50,000 with the height of the baffles equal to h/H = 0, 0.125, 0.25 and 0.50.