Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 12851291

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

CFD based performance analysis of a solar air heater duct provided with articial roughness
Sharad Kumar, R.P. Saini*
Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, AHEC, Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247667, India

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 15 July 2008 Accepted 19 September 2008 Available online 20 November 2008 Keywords: Solar air heater Articial roughness CFD Heat transfer Friction Turbulence

a b s t r a c t
In the present work the performance of a solar air heater duct provided with articial roughness in the form of thin circular wire in arc shaped geometry has been analysed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The effect of arc shaped geometry on heat transfer coefcient, friction factor and performance enhancement was investigated covering the range of roughness parameter (relative roughness height (e/D) from 0.0299 to 0.0426 and relative roughness angle (a/90) from 0.333 to 0.666) and working parameter (Reynolds number, Re from 6000 to 18,000 and solar radiation of 1000 W/m2). Different turbulent models have been used for the analysis and their results are compared. Renormalization-group (RNG) k-3 model based results have been found in good agreement and accordingly this model is used to predict heat transfer and friction factor in the duct. The overall enhancement ratio has been calculated in order to discuss the overall effect of the roughness and working parameters. A maximum value of overall enhancement ratio has been found to be as 1.7 for the range of parameters investigated. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The thermal efciency of solar air heaters has been found to be generally poor because of their inherently low heat transfer capability between the absorber plate and air owing in the duct. In order to make the solar air heaters economically viable, their thermal efciency needs to be improved by enhancing the heat transfer coefcient. In order to attain higher heat transfer coefcient, the laminar sub-layer formed in the vicinity of the absorber plate is broken and the ow at the heat-transferring surface is made turbulent by introducing articial roughness on the surface. Various investigators have studied different types of roughness geometries and their arrangements. Kays [1] used thin wires having diameter of the order of thickness of laminar sub-layer in the transverse direction to the ow with relative pitch ranging from 10 to 20. Gupta and Garg [2] carried out an experimental investigation to study the performance characteristics of four solar air heaters; two of corrugated type and other two of mesh type. Prasad and Mullick [3] and Prasad and Saini [4] used thin wires in transverse direction to increase heat transfer coefcient and tried to optimize the roughness parameter of absorber surface for maximum heat transfer for a given ow direction. Chaudhury et al. [5] carried out analysis of one pass corrugated, bare plate solar air heater. An investigation of fully developed turbulent ow in a solar air heater
* Corresponding author. Tel.:91 1332 285841; fax: 91 1332 273517. E-mail address: rajsafah@iitr.erent.in (R.P. Saini). 0960-1481/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2008.09.015

duct with small diameter protrusion wires on the absorber plate was carried out by Prasad and Saini [6]. Saini and Saini [7] carried out an experimental study of solar air heater with roughness provided in the form of expanded metal mesh. An experimental investigation was carried out for fully developed turbulent ow in a rectangular duct with large aspect ratio (11: 1) and having expanded metal mesh as articial roughness. Gupta et al. [8] carried out an experimental investigation on solar air heater with angled ribs with circular cross-section. They have investigated the effect of relative roughness height (e/D), inclination of rib with respect to ow direction and Reynolds number on uid ow characteristics in transitionally rough ow region and evaluated the thermohydraulic performance of solar air heaters. Karwa et al. [9] carried out an experimental investigation of heat transfer and friction for the ow of air in rectangular ducts with repeated chamfered rib roughness on one broad wall. Muluwork [10] carried out an experimental analysis of air heater with articial roughness provided by V-shaped staggered discrete ribs and reported that maximum heat transfer enhancement occurred at an angle of attack of 60 . Verma and Prasad [11] determined the optimal thermohydraulic performance of articially roughened solar air heaters which was roughened by circular cross-section wires, by considering the optimum value of roughness Reynolds number. Momin et al. [12] used V-shaped ribs to study the effect of geometry on heat transfer and uid ow characteristics of rectangular duct of solar air heaters with absorber plate having V-shaped ribs on its underside.

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Nomenclature H W D p e e/D Height of the solar air heater duct, mm Width of the solar air heater duct, mm Hydraulic diameter of duct, m Pitch, mm Roughness height, mm Relative roughness ratio Wire arc angle, degree

a/90 p/e Nur Nus fr fs Pr Re

Relative arc angle Relative roughness pitch Nusselt number for roughened duct Nusselt number for smooth duct Friction factor for roughened duct Friction factor for smooth duct Prandtl number Reynolds number

Bhagoria et al. [13] used wedge shaped ribs to study enhancement of heat transfer coefcient and they have shown experimentally that a maximum enhancement of heat transfer occurs at a wedge angle of about 10 while on either side of this wedge angle, Nusselt number decreases. The friction factor increases as the wedge angle increases. Karwa [14] investigated the effect of repeated rectangular cross-section ribs on heat transfer and friction factor. Tanda [15] carried out an experimental study in a rectangular channel with transverse and V-shaped broken ribs. Jaurker et al. [16] made an experimental investigation on heat transfer and frictional characteristics rib-grooved articial roughness. The presence of rib-grooved articial roughness yields Nusselt number up to 2.7 times while the friction factor rises up to 3.6 times. Layek et al. [17] carried out an experimental investigation to study the heat transfer and friction for repeated transverse compound ribgroove arrangement on absorber of solar air heater. In all the cases it has been observed that efciency of roughened solar heater higher than that of smooth air heater [18]. Use of articial roughness to increase heat transfer coefcient has been studied using CFD by various investigators [1926]. Turbulent ow and heat transfer in rotating ribbed ducts of different aspect ratios were studied numerically using Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes procedure by Saha and Acharya [20]. Ozceyhan et al. [21] conducted numerical investigation on heat transfer enhancement in tube with the circular cross-sectional rings. Iaccarino et al. [24] studied effect of thermal boundary conditions in numerical heat transfer predictions in rib-roughened passages. A study of effect of articial roughness in solar air heater using CFD was carried out by Chaube et al. [26]. CFD analysis of heat transfer and ow analysis due to roughness in the form of ribs was carried out by these investigators using 2-D models only. In the present work, roughness element in the form of arc shaped geometry has been used. The heat transfer and ow analysis of the chosen roughness element has been carried out using 3-D models. The ribs are provided on the absorber plate whereas other sides of the duct are kept smooth. 2. Details of the solar air heater duct considered As per the ASHARE 93-77 [27] recommendations, the system and operating parameters have been considered for the present investigation. The most important part of the system considered was the duct. The duct considered was having inner cross-sectional dimensions of 300 mm 25 mm as shown in Fig. 1. The aspect ratio has been kept 12 in this study, as many investigators have established this aspect ratio for such studies. The ow system consists of 900 mm long entry section, 1000 mm long test section and 500 mm long exit section. The entry and exit length of the ow have been kept to reduce the end effects on the test section considering the recommendation provided in ASHRAE Standard 93-77 [27]. A constant heat ux of 1000 W/m2 was considered to be supplied by having a heater plate placed over the absorber plate as shown in Fig. 2.

3. Analysis 3.1. Solution domain The arrangement of roughness elements in the form of arc shaped ribs xed on the inner side of the absorber plate has been considered. The solution domain used for CFD analysis has been generated as shown in Fig. 3. The duct used for CFD analysis having the height (H) of 25 mm and width (W) of 300 mm. Thickness of the absorber plate has been considered as 0.5 mm. A 28 mm thick wooden plank was considered for the sides of the duct and 40 mm thick wooden plank as bottom of the duct. A uniform heat ux of 1000 W/m2 was considered for analysis. Roughness was considered at the underside of the top of the duct to have roughened surface while other three sides were considered as smooth surfaces. 3.2. Grid The chosen geometry is such that secondary ows are bound to occur, thus possibility of using 2-D solution domain and gird is ruled out. Thus 3-D solution domain and grid were selected. In order to examine the ow and heat transfer critically in the interrib regions, ner meshing at these locations has been done. In other regions coarser mesh has been used. For the present work, meshing has been done using commercially available software GAMBIT 2.3.16. Number of cells in each set of geometries varies from 1 to 1.7 millions depending on roughness height and arc angle. To ensure that all results reported here are grid independent and well resolved, all simulations were repeated with twice the number of grid points in each spatial direction. No noticeable differences in the solutions were observed. 3.3. CFD analysis Under the present study, commercial code FLUENT Version 6.3.26 was used. As the secondary ow takes place with the selected geometry, 3-D model has been setup instead of 2-D model to simulate ow and heat transfer. The assumptions were made in the mathematical model: i. The ow is study, fully developed, turbulent and three dimensional. ii. The thermal conductivity of the duct wall and roughness material does not change with temperature. iii. The duct wall and roughness material is homogeneous and isotropic. The working uid, air is assumed to be incompressible for the operating range of solar air heaters since variation in density is very less. This reference was made with respect to experimental study of solar air heaters by other investigators. The mean inlet velocity of the ow was calculated using Reynolds number. Velocity boundary condition has been considered as

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1287

390 12 12 Wooden Ply 12

20

76

Insulation (Glass Wool)

40 25 25 Absorber Plate Heater Plate 25

25 150

12

25 40 35 Wooden Plank 350 430 Length of Duct - 2400 mm

Fig. 1. Sectional view of solar air heater duct.

40

inlet boundary condition and outow as outlet boundary condition. Second order upwind numerical scheme and SIMPLE algorithm were used to discretize the governing equations. 3.4. Roughness geometry and range of parameters Galvanized Iron (G.I) wires in the shape of arc having diameters 1.4 and 2.0 mm were considered to form an articial roughness element on the underside of the absorber plate. Two values of arc angle (a) namely 30 and 60 were used for each set of wire diameters. Relative pitch (p/e) value was kept as 10 as this value has been optimized by most of the investigators. The range of Reynolds number was considered from 6000 to 18,000 in which solar air heaters normally operate. Other roughness parameters used for the present study are as given in Table 1. 4. Results and discussions

Fig. 4 shows the variation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number for different models and the results are compared with results computed from DittusBoelter empirical relationship for a smooth duct. It has been observed that the results obtained by Renormalization-group (RNG) k-3 model are in good agreement with Dittus Boelter empirical results. Numerical model results obtained by SST ku have more deviation with empirical correlation results, whereas results obtained by other models namely Realizable k3 and Standard k3 have less deviation. Furthermore for low Reynolds number ows, both in DittusBoelter empirical and Renormalization-group (RNG) k-3 model indicates almost same results, whereas for higher Reynolds number ows some deviation has been observed in the values. It is therefore, for the present numerical study Renormalization-group (RNG) k-3 model has been employed to simulate the ow and heat transfer.

4.2. Heat transfer in roughened duct 4.1. Selection and validation of the model Different models namely Standard k3 model, Renormalizationgroup (RNG) k-3 model, Realizable k3 model and Shear Stress Transport (SST) ku have been tested for smooth duct having same cross-section of roughened duct in order to nd out the validity of the models. The results obtained by different models have been compared with DittusBoelter empirical correlation for Nusselt number given below for smooth duct [28]. The ow and heat transfer characteristics get affected in the ow direction due to rib provided in the form of articial roughness. Fig. 5 shows the variation in the values of Nusselt number between adjacent ribs. In the vicinity of the rib the values of Nusselt number has been found to be low. The reason may be that heat transfer takes place around the rib due to conduction only. The values of Nusselt number have been observed to attain very high value upstream and downstream of the rib. Nusselt number starts decreasing as the ow approaches the rib and near rib region it drops down to lower value. However, as the ow past the rib in the downstream, the Nusselt number increases. The increase in Nusselt

Nu 0:024Re0:8 Pr0:4

(1)

G.I. Sheet, 22 Gauge thick

Arc Shaped Wires

325

500

1500 2400

400

Fig. 2. Arrangement of roughness elements in the form of arc shaped ribs on the inner side of the absorber plate.

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60 Dittus-Boelter Empirical Relationship 55 Standard k Renormalization group k Realizable k 50 SST k

Nusselt number (Nu)

45

Fig. 3. Solution domain for CFD analysis.

40

is attributed to the variation in ow parameters downstream of the rib. The presence of rib along the ow direction creates vortices just downstream of the rib and the uid also separates from the wall. Separation of ow decreases heat transfer whereas vortices makes uid to mix thus increasing heat transfer. Downstream of the rib in its vicinity, vortices effect will be predominant than ow separation effect, thus values of Nusselt number increases in this region. Further downstream of the rib, where ow is in separated condition and vortices effect is negligible, both of these effects minimize the value of Nusselt number. Still further downstream of the rib, ow reattachment takes place increasing the value of Nusselt number sharply. As Reynolds number increases, Nusselt number also increases in inter-rib regions. On the either sides of the rib, the values of Nusselt number are same for both low and high values of Reynolds number ows, whereas in the downstream of the rib Nusselt number is higher for higher Reynolds number ow as compared to low Reynolds number ows. Fig. 6 shows pathlines for ow past the rib along the mid plane for a given value of Reynolds number of 14,000. Vortices, separation of ow and reattachment have been predicted by CFD model. For a xed value of relative arc angle (a/90) and relative roughness height (e/D), number of vortices, intensity and reattachment point varies with respect to the Reynolds number. As depicted in Fig. 7, the velocity vectors for Reynolds number of 14,000 shows stronger vortices because of the presence of roughness element which results in more heat transfer rate. CFD results have critically analysed the ow separation and reattachment to explain other related phenomenon such as increase in Nusselt number for different roughness parameters. 4.2.1. Effect of relative roughness height on Nusselt number Fig. 8 shows variation of Nusselt number for different values of relative roughness height (e/D) for a particular value of relative roughness angle (a/90) of 0.333. Nusselt number increases with increase in Reynolds number. Nusselt number has been found to be increased with increase in relative roughness height (e/D). The increase in Nusselt number is attributed to increase in heat transfer rate. Nusselt number increases with increase in relative roughness height (e/D) for all values of Reynolds number. Nusselt number increases as relative roughness height (e/D) increases from 0.0299 to 0.0426.
Table 1 Range of parameters. S.no. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 6. 7. Parameters Reynolds number (Re) Hydraulic diameter of duct, D (mm) Duct aspect ratio (W/H) Roughness height (mm) Relative roughness ratio, (e/D) Wire arc angle, a(degree) Relative arc angle, (a/90) Relative roughness pitch, p/e Heat ux or insolation(W/m2) Range 600018,000 46.86 12 1.4 and 2.0 0.0299 and 0.0426 30 and 60 0.333 and 0.666 10 1000

35

30

25

20 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000

Reynolds number
Fig. 4. Comparison between Nusselt number predictions of different CFD models with DittusBoelter empirical relationship for smooth duct.

4.2.2. Effect of relative arc angle on Nusselt number Fig. 9 shows variation of Nusselt number for different values of relative arc angle (a/90) for a given value of relative roughness height (e/D) of 0.0299. The CFD model predicts increase in Nusselt number as Reynolds number increase for a particular value of relative arc angle (a/90). When relative arc angle (a/90) increases from 0.333 to 0.666, the Nusselt decreases. Thus a geometry having relative arc angle (a/90) of 0.33, has higher Nusselt number as compared to geometry with relative arc angle (a/90) of 0.66 for the same values of Reynolds number and relative roughness height (e/D). Nusselt number decreases as relative arc angle (a/90) increases from 0.333 to 0.666. Decrease in Nusselt number with increase in relative arc angle (a/90) for a xed relative roughness

140 For e/D=0.0299 /90=0.333 120 RE=14000 RE=10000 100

Nusselt number (Nu)

80

60

40

20

0 0.075 0.080 0.085 0.090 0.095 0.100 0.105 0.110 0.115

Length (m)
Fig. 5. Variation of Nusselt number in inter-rib region along the length of duct.

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Fig. 6. Pathlines for relative arc angle (a/90) 0.333 and relative roughness height (e/D) 0.0299 at Reynolds number of 14,000.

height (e/D) is observed for all set of Reynolds numbers. However, this is observed to be more in case of lower Reynolds number ows as compared to higher Reynolds number ows. Thus decrease in Nusselt number is observed to be more in case of Reynolds number of 6000 whereas, for Reynolds number of 18,000, it almost remains the same. 4.3. Friction factor in roughened duct In order to analyse the effect of uid ow characteristics, the values of friction factor are plotted against Reynolds number. It has been found that the friction factor decreases with increase in Reynolds number. 4.3.1. Effect of relative roughness height on friction factor Fig. 10 shows variation of friction factor with Reynolds number for different values of relative roughness height (e/D) at a particular value of relative roughness angle (a/90) of 0.333 and for a smooth

duct. Friction factor decreases with increase in Reynolds number. It has been found that friction factor increases as relative roughness height (e/D) increases from 0.0299 to 0.0426 for a given value of relative arc angle (a/90) and ow conditions. 4.3.2. Effect of relative arc angle on friction factor Fig. 11 shows variation of friction factor for different values of relative arc angle (a/90) at a particular value of relative roughness height (e/D) of 0.0426. The results show that there is an increase in friction factor with increase in relative arc angle for given values of roughness and ow parameters. The results discussed above have been on similar lines that of results reported in the past experimental studies conducted by various investigators. 4.4. Thermohydraulic performance of roughened duct CFD results predict increase in Nusselt number with increase in relative roughness height (e/D), however friction factor also

Fig. 7. Velocity vectors for relative arc angle (a/90) 0.333 and relative roughness height (e/D) 0.0299 at Reynolds number of 14,000.

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120 110 100

0.120 0.110 0.100 For /90 = 0.333 e/D=0.0426 e/D=0.0299 Smooth 0.090

90

Nusselt number (Nu)

80

Friction factor,f
For /90=0.333 e/D=0.0426 e/D=0.0299 Smooth

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
0 00 00 0 0 0 0 00 00 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 60 20 40 80 12 10 14 16 18 20

0.080 0.070 0.060 0.050 0.040 0.030 0.020

00 0 0 0 0 0 00 18 0 18 00 20 20 00 0 00 00 00 0 00 00 00 00 20 40 60 80 10 12 14 16 00 0

Reynolds number (Re)

Fig. 8. Variation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number for different values of relative roughness height (e/D).

Reynolds number (Re)

Fig. 10. Variation of friction factor with Reynolds number for different values of relative roughness height (e/D).

increases. Thus performance of collector efciency is dependent on these two parameters. The enhancement in the collector performance due to articial roughness is generally evaluated on the basis of thermohydraulic performance parameter which incorporates both the thermal as well as hydraulic considerations. Thermohydraulic performance parameter is dened as overall enhancement ratio and represented by the following expression [28].
s Overall enhancement ratio  1=3

Nur Nu

(2)

fr fs

It is evident that a surface roughness that yields the value of this parameter greater than unity is only useful. Higher the value of this parameter better is the performance of the solar air heater. Fig. 12 shows overall enhancement ratio for the solar air heater having different rib congurations for Reynolds number range from 6000 to 18,000. It has been found that overall enhancement ratio is greater than unity for all set of roughness combinations and it is maximum around Reynolds number of 6000. Beyond Reynolds number 10,000 overall enhancement ratio decreases sharply and around 18,000 of its value becomes nearly 1. For the range of
0.110

120 For 110 /90=0.299 e/D=0.0333 e/D=0.0666 100 Smooth

0.100

For e/D=0.0299 /90=0.666 /90=0.333 Smooth

0.090

Nusselt number (Nu)

Frinction factor,f
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

90

0.080

80

0.070

70

0.060

60

0.050

50

0.040

40
20 0 40 0 60 0 12 00 14 00 16 00 18 00 10 00 20 00 80 0

0.030
0 20 00 40 00 60 00 00 0 00 0 14 80 00 00 0 00 0 16

Reynolds number (Re)

Fig. 9. Variation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number for different values of relative arc angle (a/90).

Reynolds number (Re)

Fig. 11. Variation of friction with Reynolds number for different values of relative arc angle (a/90).

10

12

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1.80

arc angle (a/90) of 0.333 and relative roughness height (e/D) of 0.0426 for the range of parameters considered.

1.70

Overall enhancement ratio

1.60

References
[1] Kays WM. Convective heat and mass transfer. New York: McGraw Hill Book Co; 1966. [2] Gupta CL, Garg HP. Performance studies on solar air heaters. Solar Energy 1961;11(1):2531. [3] Prasad K, Mullick SC. Heat transfer characteristics of solar air heater used for drying purposes. Applied Energy 1983;13:8393. [4] Prasad BN, Saini JS. Effect of articial roughness on heat transfer and friction factor in a solar air heater. Solar Energy 1988;41(6):55560. [5] Chaudhury, Anderson SL, Rakstad J. A solar air heater for low temperature applications. Solar Energy 1988;40:33543. [6] Prasad BN, Saini JS. Optimal thermohydraulic performance of articial roughened solar air heater. Solar Energy 1991;47(2):916. [7] Saini RP, Saini JS. Heat transfer and friction factor correlations for articially roughened ducts with expanded metal mesh as roughened element. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 1997;40(4):97386. [8] Gupta D, Solanki SC, Saini JS. Thermohydraulic performance of solar air heaters with roughened absorber plates. Solar Energy 1997;61(1):3342. [9] Karwa R, Solanki SC, Saini JS. Heat transfer coefcient and friction factor correlations for the transitional ow regime in rib roughened rectangular ducts. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 1999;42:1597615. [10] Muluwork K.B. Investigations on uid ow and heat transfer in roughened absorber solar heaters, PhD dissertation, IIT Roorkee; 2000. [11] Verma SK, Prasad BN. Investigation for optimal thermohydraulic performance of articially roughened solar air heaters. Renewable Energy 2000;20:1936. [12] Momin AME, Saini JS, Solanki SC. Heat transfer and friction in solar air heater duct with V-shaped rib roughness on absorber plate. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 2002;45:338396. [13] Bhagoria JL, Saini JS, Solanki SC. Heat transfer coefcient and friction factor correlations for rectangular solar air heater duct having transverse wedge shaped rib roughness on the absorber plate. Renewable Energy 2002;25: 34169. [14] Karwa R. Experimental studies of a augmented heat transfer and friction in asymmetrically heated rectangular ducts with ribs on the heated wall in transverse, inclined, V-continuous and V-discrete pattern. International Communication in Heat and Mass Transfer 2003;30(2):24151. [15] Tanda G. Heat transfer in rectangular channels with transverse and V-shaped broken ribs. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 2004;4:22943. [16] Jaurker AR, Saini JS, Gandhi BK. Heat transfer and friction characteristics of rectangular solar air heater duct using rib-grooved articial roughness. Solar Energy 2006;80:895907. [17] Layek A, Saini JS, Solanki SC. Second law optimization of solar air heater having chamfered rib groove roughness on absorber plate. Renewable Energy 2007;32:196780. [18] Mittal MK, Varun, Saini RP, Singhal SK. Effective efciency of solar air heaters having different types of roughness elements on the absorber plate. Energy 2007;32:73945. [19] Grenard Ph, Quintilla-Larroya V, Laroche E. Numerical study of heat transfer on a dimpled surface with CEDRE code, In: second European conference for aerospace sciences; May 2007. [20] Saha Arun K, Acharya Sumantha. Turbulent heat transfer in ribbed coolant passages of different aspect ratios: parametric effects. J Heat Transfer April 2007;129:44963. [21] Ozceyhan Veysel, Gunes Sibel, Buyukalaca Orhan, Altuntop Necdet. Heat transfer enhancement in tube using circular cross sectional rings separated from wall. Applied Energy 2008;85:9881001. [22] Ooi A, Iaccarino G, Durbin PA, Behnia M. Reynolds averaged simulation of ow and heat transfer in ribbed ducts. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 2002;23:7507. [23] Craft TJ, Iacovides H, Mostafa NA. Modelling of three-dimensional jet array impingement and heat transfer on a concave surface. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 2008;29:687702. [24] Iaccarino G, Ooi A, Durbin PA, Behnia M. Conjugate heat transfer predictions in two dimensional ribbed passages. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 2002;23:3405. [25] Iacovides H, Kelemenis G, Raisee M. Flow and heat transfer in straight cooling passages with inclined rinds on opposite walls: an experimental and computational study. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 2003;27: 28394. [26] Chaube Alok, Sahoo PK, Solanki SC. Analysis of heat transfer augmentation and ow characteristics due to rib roughness over absorber plate of a solar air heater. Renewable Energy 2006;31:31731. [27] ASHARE Standard 93-77. Methods of testing to determine the thermal performance of collectors. Atlanta, GA: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers Inc; 1977. [28] Wang L, Sunden B. Performance comparison of some tube inserts. International Communication in Heat and Mass Transfer 2002;29(1):4556.

1.50

1.40

1.30

1.20

/90=0.333 /90=0.333 /90=0.666 /90=0.666

e/D=0.0299 e/D=0.0426 e/D=0.0299 e/D=0.0426

1.10

1.00
0 00 0 0 0 00 00 00 0 0 00 18 20 00 00 00 00 20 40 60 80 12 14 10 16 00 0

Reynolds number (Re)

Fig. 12. Overall enhancement ratio of various roughness geometries.

parameters considered the suitable operating range has been found between Reynolds number 6000 and 10,000. Further overall enhancement ratio has been found to be maximum for roughness geometry corresponding to relative arc angle (a/90) of 0.333 and relative roughness height (e/D) of 0.0426. The reason may be explained on the basis of Nusselt number and friction factor discussed earlier for the combination of geometry. Nusselt number increases with the increase in relative roughness height (e/D) and it decreases with increase in relative arc angle (a/ 90). Whereas friction factor increases with increase in both relative roughness height (e/D) and relative arc angle (a/90). It is therefore the value of overall enhancement ratio depends on net effect of these parameters. Fig. 12 shows that roughness geometry corresponding to relative arc angle (a/90) of 0.333 and relative roughness height (e/D) of 0.0426 has found to be most efcient geometry with maximum overall enhancement ratio of 1.7 under the range of parameters investigated. 5. Conclusions An attempt has been made to carry out CFD based analysis to uid ow and heat transfer characteristics of a solar air heaters having roughened duct provided with articial roughness in arc shaped geometry. Combined effect of swirling motion, detachment and reattachment of uid which was considered to be responsible in the increase of heat transfer rate has been observed during CFD analysis. Nusselt number has been found to increase with increase in Reynolds number where friction factor decreases with increase in Reynolds number for all combinations of relative roughness height (e/D) and relative arc angle (a/90). CFD results have also been validated for smooth duct and different CFD model results were compared with DittusBoelter empirical relationship for smooth duct. Among all the models used, Renormalization-group (RNG) k-3 model results have been found to have good agreement. Overall enhancement ratio with a maximum value of 1.7 has been found for the roughness geometry corresponding to relative