Computational Fluid Dynamics Investigation of the Thermal Performances of a Swirler with Profiled Blades.

Numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the swirling decaying flow generated by a novel axial guide vane swirler with profiled blades and no supporting device in a tube and its effect on heat transfer and pressure drop compared to a developed turbulent flow in a no swirl tube. Reynolds number ranged from 10,000 to 200,000. Turbulence was modeled using a k − ω Shear Stress Transport model and a Low-Reynolds approach. The swirling flow enhances significantly the heat transfer locally especially in the developing swirling flow region and globally with an increase of Nusselt number from 1.57 to 1.34 respectively for Reynolds number of 10,000 and 200,000. Pressure drop is also increased up to 2.9 for a Reynolds number of 200,000, however this is relatively low compared to other axial guide vane swirler device encountered in the literature. Furthermore, the Performance Evaluation Criterion of the swirling flow is higher than 1 for both Reynolds number of 10,000 and 30,000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]