Solar Energy VoL 41, No. 6. pp. 555-560. 1988 O.)38-092X/88 $3.00 + .

00
Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright ~ 1988 Pergamon Press plc

EFFECT OF ARTIFICIAL ROUGHNESS ON HEAT TRANSFER

A N D F R I C T I O N F A C T O R IN A S O L A R A I R H E A T E R

B. N, PRASADand J. S. SAINI
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, University of Roorkee,
Roorkee, U.P. 247667, India

Abstract--Convective heat transfer coefficient between absorber plate and air in a flat-plate solar air
heater can be enhanced by providing the absorber plate with artificial roughness. An investigation of
fully developed turbulent flow in a solar air heater duct with small diameter protrusion wires on the
absorber plate has been carried out and expressions for prediction of average Stanton number and average
friction factor have been developed. The results of these expressions have been compared with available
data. The results have been found to compare with a mean deviation of 6.3% for friction factor and
- 10.7% for the Nusselt number. The effect of height and pitch of the roughness elements on the heat
transfer rate and friction has also been investigated.

1. I N T R O D U C T I O N into the problem, it is thought that an investigation

The value of collector efficiency factor given as[3l
h
G =~
h+UL
can be increased by increasing heat transfer coeffi-
cient h between the absorber plate and air. The ap-
plication of artificial roughness in the form of fine
wires or ribs of different geometry on the heat trans-
fer surface has been recommended to enhance the heat
transfer coefficient by several investigators[l, 2, 4 -
5, 6]. Inclusion of artificial roughness, on the other
hand, results in higher friction factor causing more
pumping power required. It has been shown that the
artificial roughness breaks up the boundary layer. It
is well known that in a turbulent flow a sublayer ex-
ists in the flow in addition to the turbulent core. The
purpose of the artificial roughness is to make the flow
turbulent adjacent to the wall (i.e., in the sublayer
region). The geometry of the artificial roughness has
therefore to be such that it should break the sublayer
without disturbing the core to keep the pressure drop
at a low level.
A number of investigators[4-11] have investi-
gated the effect of different geometries of artificial
roughness on heat transfer and friction factor in duct
flows. Prasad and Mullick[2] utilized artificial rough-
ness in a solar air heater duct in the form of small
diameter wires to increase the heat transfer coeffi-
cient for relative roughness height and relative rough-
ness pitch of 0.019 and 12.7, respectively, with wire
diameter of 0.84 mm. Liu et al.[12] found an en-
hancement of the heat transfer coefficient in a solar
air heater by providing extended surfaces on the ab-
sorber plate. It is found that there is pressure drop
without a proportionate increase in heat transfer coef-
ficient as the extended surfaces protrude beyond the
sublayer. In the absence of a systematic investigation
of a solar air heater performance having artificial
roughness of very small height on the absorber plate
as a function of relative roughness height, relative
(1) roughness pitch and Reynolds number would be use-
ful for efficient and compact air heater design.
In the present work, an attempt to develop expres-
sions for heat transfer and friction factor for fully de-
veloped turbulent flow in a solar air heater duct ar-
tificially roughened by small diameter wires of various
relative roughness heights and relative roughness
pitches has been made. The results of the expressions
have been compared with available experimental re-
sults. The influence of roughness and fluid flow pa-
rameters on the performance has also been
investigated.
1.1 Analysis
1.1.1. Fhdd flow analysis The following analy-
sis is based on the approach used by Han[6] who ana-
lyzed the fluid flow in a two sided roughened duct.
Figurel(a) and (b) show smooth and artificially
roughened four-sided ducts, respectively. Figure l(c)
represents the present solar air heater duct model with
only top surface roughened artificially. These ducts
have similar cross-sections with W > > B. For fully
developed turbulent flow in a four-sided smooth duct,
the friction factor can be given by
%
= ~ (2)
1
2 pv~
Similarly, the friction factor in a four-sided rough duct
for fully developed turbulent flow can be given by
"['r
f, = ~ (3)
1
~ p v-2,
555
556 B. N. PRASADand J. S. SAINI
1 Nikuradse. Ref[4-6] are the works where this method
Figs. l(a). (b), (c). Four sided smooth, four sided rough
and one sided rough rectangular ducts, respectively.
The average friction factor for fully developed tur-
bulent flow for a four-sided duct with three smooth
and one rough side as in Fig. l(c) will be given by
jF = __
1
(4)
,~ p f"
If it is assumed that the total shear force in the duct
of Fig. l(c) is approximately equal to the combined
shear force from three smooth walls in a four-sided
smooth duct and the shear force from one rough wall
in a four-sided rough duct,
[(W + 2B) "r3, + Wrl,]L
--= [(W + 2B) r, + Wr, IL (5)
In fact, T3s will be slightly greater than "r, due to ad-
jacent rough wall and ~, will be greater than "qr due
to adjacent rough walls. Since W > > B, roughness
on the shorter sides will have very little effect, so the
assumption of eqn. (5) should be reasonable (Ap-
pendix 1).
The average shear stress in eqn. (4) can also be
related as
~(2W + 2B)L = ['rs,(W + 2B) + "rlrW]L (6)
such that eqns. (5) and (6) give
-?(2W + 2B) =- r,(W + 2B) + r,W (7)
Again, assuming that 1/2 p~7~= 1/2 p~7~= 1/2 pf2,
eqns. (2), (3), (4), and (7) will yield the relation for
average friction factor for the present solar air heater
duct as
= ( w + 2B)f, + wf,
2(W + B)
Friction factor in four-sided smooth duct can be cal-
(8)
culated from the Moody chart for fully developed tur-
bulent flow. Friction factor in a four-sided rough duct
can be determined using the friction similarity law of
has been successfully extended to correlate friction
data for turbulent flow in tubes and ducts with dif-
ferent rib roughnesses. Dipprey and Sabersky[9] de-
veloped a heat momentum transfer analogy for flow
in a sand-grain-roughened tube assuming that the law
of wall similarity applies to both the temperature and
velocity profiles.
In view of the above, assuming that this method
can be applied to flow in a four-sided rough duct, the
law of wall similarity is expressed as
u + = 2.5 In (y/e) + RM(e÷) (9)
where the momentum transfer roughness function
RM(e+) is only dependent on the type of roughness
and is independent of the tube or duct geometry[13].
A well-known correlation for flow in ribbed tubes
with 0.01 -< e/D <- 0.04, [4] for RM(e ÷) is
RM(et) = 0.95(p/e)°53;p/e >-- 10, e + --> 35 (10)
If law of the wall similarity is assumed for any type
of roughness, the same parameters should correlate
the friction data for any geometrically similar rough-
ness for given p / e and the roughness shape. There-
fore the equation of Webb et al.[4] is assumed to
predict the friction data for the present also (within
the given range of e/D) which is
f, = (11)
[0.95(p/e) °5~ + 2.5 In (D/2e) - 3.75]"
The average friction factor for the present case of so-
lar air heater duct can be predicted by combining eqns.
(8) and (1 l) andf~ obtained from the Moody chart.
Comparison of friction data (Fig. 2) shows the
comparison of results of eqn. (8) with experimental
data of Prasad and Mullick[2]. The mean deviation
between the experimental and predicted values has
been found to be 6.3%. The deviation decreases with
increasing Reynolds number. Hence, eqn. (8) is seen
to predict the friction data in an artificially roughened
solar air heater duct.
1. 1.2. Heat transfer analysis. In a solar air heater,
only the top surface (absorber plate) receives heat en-
ergy, whereas the three other walls (side and back)
are insulated. Applying the law of wall similarity to
fO'09t Ref [21 data o
.,, Predicted (8) 7
IIIF 15000 20000 25000
Re
Fig. 2. Comparison of friction factor data.
 Artificial roughness in a solar air heater 557

temperature profile to correlate the heat transfer data

as

Ref [2l data o

140
T+ = 2.5 In (y/e) + Gn(e +, Pr) (12) Predicted eq (15)--'~

and assuming that the heat transfer roughness func- 100

tion Gn(e ÷, Pr) is only dependent on roughness ge- Nu
ometry[13] and is independent of flow cross-section
area, the equation of Webb et al. [4] can be employed 60
for similar roughness geometry, which is given as
20 [ I I r

f,12 15000 20000 25000

St r ~
Re
! + ~¢/(f,/2)[4.5(e+) °'2s Pr°'57 - 0.95(p/e) °53] Fig. 3. Comparison of heat transfer data: Nu-Re relation-
(13) ship.

The above equation is for a rough tube but in the
present case of a solar heater duct there is no rough-
ness and heat flux on three sides of the duct. Hence,
the average friction factor s~ and average Stanton
number St are used in eqn (13) to predict the Stanton
number as
#2
St =
1 + ~/(jT/2)I4.5(e+)°2s Pr°~7 - 0.95(p/e)°531
(14)
1.1.3. Comparison of heat transfer data. Average
Nusselt number Iqu has been calculated using the
equation
lqu = St Re Pr (15)
Figure (3) shows the comparison of results of eqn
(15) with the experimental data of Prasad et all2]. St
in eqn (15) has been calculated from eqn (14) using
the value ofs~ from eqn (8). The results of the Nunner
equation[l] for rough tube, written as
Nur "fr" 0.5
(16)
has also been shown in Fig. 3. For eqn (16), the val-
ues offr have been taken as those o f f from eqn. (8),
fs taken from the Moody chart and Nus has been cal-
culated from the following equation[17]
Nus = 0.014(Pr)°s(J~)° SRe (17)
The predicted values of the Nusselt number compare
well with the experimental data of Prasad et al. with
a mean deviation of - 1 0 . 7 % . The deviation de-
creases with increasing Reynolds number. Hence, eqn
(14) is assumed to predict the heat transfer data in an
artificially roughened solar air heater duct.
1.1.4. Effect of roughness and flow parame-
ters. Equations (8) and (15) have been used to in-
vestigate the influence of, roughness and flow pa-
rameters. The range of parameters (i.e., p/e. e/D,
and Re) has been chosen from the values used by
previous investigators[l, 2, 4-6]. Salient features of
these studies along with range of parameters are given
in Table 1. The last row gives the range of param-
eters selected for the present investigation.
The average friction factor calculated from eqn (8)
and the average Nusselt number calculated from eqn
(15) have been shown in Figs. 4 and 5. For a given
relative roughness height, the average friction factor
approaches an approximately constant value with in-
creasing Reynolds number, whereas the average Nus-
selt number goes on increasing with Reynolds num-
ber as seen from Fig. 4. Both the average friction
factor and Nusselt number increase with increasing
relative roughness height. The average Nusselt num-
ber of the roughened duct is about 2.10, 2.24, and
2.38 times that of the smooth duct for relative rough-
ness height of 0.020, 0.027, and 0.033, respectively.
The average friction factor of the roughened duct is

Table 1. Data for repeated rib roughness in tubes and ducts

Ref. author R o u g h n e stype
s Geometry of flow e/D p/e Re x 10-3

[1] Kays (recom-

mended) Small dia wire -- -- 10-20 --
[2] Prasad et al. Wire Solar air heater duct 0.019 12.7 15-24
[4] Webb et al. Rectangular Pipe 0.01 -0.04 10-40 6-100
[5] Sheriff and Wire (0.002- Annulus -- 10 10-200
Gumley 0.040 in dia)
[6] Hart Rectangular Four-sided duct 0.021-0.063 10-40 7-90
[4] Webb et al. Semicircular Circular tube 0.04 -0.08 2-81.7 1-100
rectangular
This study Wire Solar air heater d u c t 0.020-0.033 10-20 5-50
558 B. N. PRASADand J. S• SAINI
.10 about 3.08, 3.67, and 4.25 times that of the smooth
.07 elD = 0-033 duct.
"05 Figure 5 shows that at a given relative roughness
pitch the average friction factor reaches almost con-
.03 pie = I0 • stant as the Reynolds number increases, but the av-
15- erage Nusselt number increases with an increasing
"02 20-
T Reynolds number. Both the average Nusselt number
and average friction factor decrease with increasing
"01
relative roughness pitch• The increase in the average
Nusselt number and average friction factor in the
'005 roughened duct is about 2.38, 2.14, 2.01 and 4.25,
3.39, 2.93 times that of the smooth duct for relative
•003
roughness pitch of 10, 15, and 20, respectively. Fig-
20C ure 6 shows the variation of lqu and f as a function
of p /e.
IOC
70 2, DISCUSSIONS
50 Both the average Nusselt number and friction in-
Nu ple crease with increasing relative roughness height. But
30
the rate of increase of average friction factor in-
20 creases whereas the rate of increase of average Nus-
selt number decreases with the increase of relative
I0- roughness height. Figure 6 has been drawn for a Rey-
nolds number of 5000 for different relative roughness
5 I I , t llll I I I
pitches and relative roughness heights. At a relative
, I I III
2 5 I0 20 50 I00 roughness pitch of 10, for an increase of relative
R e x 10 "3 roughness height from 0.020 to 0•027, the rate of
increase of average Nusselt number works out to be
Fig. 4. Effect of p/e on lqu and f. 328.6 and the rate of increase of average friction fac-
tor is 0.529. If relative roughness height is increased
40 from 0.027 to 0.033, the rate of increase of average
•07 ple = I0
-05
T vs p/e
.03 e/O = 0 . 0 3 3 - - ..... "Nu vs p / e
0.027' 4O 0•05
.02 0.020-- elD=O-03$
T -._ " ~ . ~ 5 0 O0
.01 30 0-02

.005
20 ,,, i I i 0"01
.003
pie = 10 40 e/D = 0 - 0 2 7 0"03
200
Re = 5 0 0 0
Nu 7
I00
3O 0-02
70
50
Nu = 0-03:5 2O I .1 I 0"01
30 0.027
0.020 e/D=O-020
20 35 0"025
Re = 5 0 0 0
3O 0'020
IO

5 I I 1~ I I IIII | I I I I III 20 t ..t t 0.010

2 5 I0 20 50 I00 5 tO 15 20 25
Re x I£) 3 P/e
Fig. 5• Effect of e/D on Iqu and jr. Fig. 6. Effect of p/e and e/D on lqu and ./;.
 Artificial roughness in a solar air heater 559

Nusselt number and average friction factor are found

to be 341.7 and 0.633. Figure 6 shows that for in- e/D Flow Pattern
creasing relative roughness pitch both the average
Nusselt number and average friction factor increases I" L P II
monotonously. But the rate of decrease for both the
average Nusselt number and average friction factor el/D
decreases for increasing relative roughness pitch.
f--Reattachment of free
Figure 7 shows the flow patterns downstream from a shear layer
rib as a function of relative roughness pitch[4]. Due
to separation at the rib, reattachment of the free shear
layer does not occur for a p/e less than about 8 to
10. Maximum heat transfer coefficient occurs in the e2/D
vicinity of the reattachment point[14, 15]. It is rea-
sonable to expect that the same effect can be pro-
duced by decreasing the relative roughness pitch or
increasing the relative roughness height and vice-versa.
For relative roughness pitch less than 8 to 10, reat-
tachment will not occur, resulting in a decrease in eJD
the rate of heat transfer enhancement although the
rate of increase in friction factor will increase with
decrease of pitch. Similarly, larger relative roughness
height might produce the same effect as that for rel-
ative roughness pitch less than 8 to 10 (i.e., reat-
tachment of free shear layer might not occur and the
rate of heat transfer enhancement will not be pro- Ie4/O
portionate to that of friction factor). Figure 8 have

pie Flow Patterns

%/0
r;2 ,achmeo, o, ,tee
shear 'layer
X = 6e -8e
IO
Fig. 8. Probable flow patterns downstream of wires with
the roughness as a function of relative roughness height
(e~ > e~ > e~ > e_, > e~; p = constant).
m

been drawn for the probable flow pattern as a func-

tion of relative roughness height to explain this effect.

3. CONCLUSIONS
1. Law of the wall similarity can be assumed for cor-
relating heat transfer and friction data in an artifi-
cially roughened solar air heater duct.
2. Geometrically similar roughnesses (for a given
p/e, e/D) produce the same effect on heat trans-
fer and friction.
3. Increase in the relative roughness height results in
a decrease of the rate of heat transfer enhance-
1-25 ment although the rate of increase of friction fac-
tor increases.
4. Increase in the relative roughness pitch results is
Fig. 7. Flow patterns downstream of ribs with the rough- a decrease in the rate of both heat transfer and
ness as a function of relative roughness pitch. friction factor.
560 B. N. PRASAD and J. S. SAtNI

5. S m a l l d i a m e t e r p r o t r u s i o n w i r e s c a n be utilized o n REFERENCES
the c o l l e c t o r p l a t e s in the s o l a r air h e a t e r s to d o u - 1. W. M. Kays, Convective Heat and Mass Transfer, p.
ble the h e a t t r a n s f e r c o e f f i c i e n t . H o w e v e r , this is 197 McGraw-Hill, New York (1966).
f o u n d to c a u s e a h i g h e r i n c r e a s e in friction factor, 2. K. Prasad and S. C. Mullick, Heat transfer character-
istics of a solar air heater used for drying purposes.
w h i c h effectively q u a d r u p l e s with u s e o f the wires.
Applied Energy 13, 8 3 - 9 3 (1985).
3. R. W. Bliss, Derivation of several plate efficiency fac-
tors useful in design of fiat plate solar heat collectors.
Solar Energy 3, 5 5 - 6 4 (1959).
NOMENCLATURE
4. R. L. Webb, E. R. G. Eckert, and R. J. Goldstein,
A Cross-sectional area of air duct = (14: x B), m: Heat Transfer and Friction in tubes with repeated rip
B Air gap, m roughness. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 14, 6 0 1 - 6 1 7
D Hydraulic diameter of air duct = (4A/P). m (1971).
e Roughness height, m 5. N. Sheriff and P. Gumley, Heat transfer and friction
e/D Relative roughness height properties of surfaces with discrete roughness, bit. J.
e* Roughness Reynolds number = (e/D) Re V ~ Heat Mass Transfer 9, 1297-1320 (1966).
Fp Collector efficiency factor 6. J. C. Han, Heat transfer and friction in channels with
two opposite rib-roughened walls. Trans. ASME J. of
f Friction factor
Heat Transfer, 106, 774-781 (November 1984).
f Average friction factor
7. M. J. Lewis, An elementary analysis for predicting the
G, Heat transfer roughness function
m o m e n t u m and heat transfer characteristics of a hy-
g Acceleration of gravity, m-s-'-
draulically rough surface. ASME J. of Heat Transfer
h Heat transfer coefficient between air flowing through
97, 2 4 9 - 2 5 4 (1975).
the duct and collector plate, W-m--" K -t
8. W. Baumann and K. Rehme, Friction correlation for
Nu Nusselt number
rectangular roughness. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 18,
Iqu Average Nusselt number
1189-1197 (1975).
P Perimeter of air duct = 2(W + B), m
9. D. F. Dipprey and R. H. Sabersky, Heat and momen-
p Pitch of roughness element, m
tum transfer in smooth and rough tubes at various Prandtl
p/e Relative roughness pitch
number. Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer 6. 329-353
Pr Prandtl number
(1963).
Re Reynolds number
10. P. R. Owen and W. R. Thomson, Heat transfer across
R,f M o m e n t u m transfer roughness function
rough surfaces. J. Fhdd Mech. 15, 321. 334 (1963).
St Stanton number
1 I. P. M. Ligrani and R. J. Moffat, Structure of transi-
St Average Stanton number
tionally rough and fully rough turbulent boundary lay-
u" dimensionless velocity
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3 5 8 - 3 6 3 (August 1984).
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N-m-"
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APPENDIX 1

73, > % or 73, = 7~ + ~ (A1) or

71¢ < 7, or 7~, = 7 , - ~' (A2) 73, + "rl, ~ 7s + 7, (A4)
W >> B (A3) Writing for the left-hand side of eqn (A4), from eqns
(AI) and (A2)
where e and e' are very small quantities in eqns (AI) and
(A2) Hence, eqn (5) written as L.H.S. = (7, + e) + ('r, - e')
= (7, + 7,) + (e - e')
[(W + 2B)'r3, + W%]L ~ [(W + 2B)'r, + WT,]L (5)
(e - e') is the difference of two small quantities that will
Since W > > B, eqn (5) can be written, neglecting B as be even smaller and can be neglected.
Hence, L.H.S. = 7, + 7, = R.H.S o f e q n (A4). Hence,
W(73, + 7~,)L ~ W ( % + 7,)L the assumption of eqn (5) is reasonable.