Experimental and computational investigation for 3-D duct flow with modified arrangement ribs turbulators

A combined numerical and experimental study is conducted to test the heat transfer enhancement and friction factor characteristics for a rectangular duct fitted with three cases of ribs turbulators: continuous ribs, intermittent-continuous-intermittent ribs, and intermittent ribs. Experiments are conducted within a turbulent flow for Reynolds numbers values varied from 10000 to 35000, pitch ratio equal to 5 and height ratio of 0.33. The numerical study carried out using ANSYS FlUENT17.2. The turbulence is modeled by using k-? model. The results showed that the case of intermittent ribs provide the highest over performance factor while the continuous ribs indicate less overall performance factor among the considered cases. In addition, the results show that the highest values of the friction factor are marked from the case of intermittent ribs and then the case of intermittent-continuous-intermittent ribs followed by continuous rib case. The continuous rib case showed the lowest friction factor.