NUMERICAL STUDY OF TURBULENT FORCED CONVECTION IN A PERIODICALLY RIBBED CHANNEL WITH OSCILLATORY THROUGHFLOW

Numerical computations are performed on the fully developed flow and heat transfer in a periodically ribbed channel with oscillatory throughflow. A uniform heat flux is imposed at the lower plate of the channel. An externally sustained pressure gradient varies sinusoidally in time. A low-turbulent-Reynolds-number version of the k–ϵ two-equation model of turbulence is invoked, together with a preferential dissipation modification, to predict the complex turbulent flow field. Computed results indicate that much heat transfer enhancement is expected by increasing the Womersley number, which measures the relative strength of the oscillatory motion to the viscous effects.