Thermal-hydraulic and entropy generation analysis for turbulent flow inside a corrugated channel

Abstract Using corrugated plates is shown to have some advantages over flat plates in transferring heat to or from fluid flow. Here a thermal-hydraulic and entropy generation analysis are performed for turbulent flow inside a corrugated channel. The goal was to find the best parameters that maximize the thermal performance and minimize the irreversibility. The influence of different parameters, which includes Reynolds number ( Re ), wave amplitude (α), and wavelength (λ) of the corrugated wall, on the heat transfer, pressure drop, performance and entropy generation are studied. A SST k – ω turbulence model is utilised in this numerical simulation, where the Reynolds number is in the range of 5000–50,000. Three different values of wave amplitude of the corrugated wall (i.e. α = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3) and three values of wavelengths for the corrugated wall (i.e. λ = 1, 2, and 3) were considered in this analysis. The influence of different parameters, which includes Reynolds number, wave amplitude, and wavelength of the corrugated wall, on the heat transfer, pressure drop, performance and entropy generation are studied. The results indicated that the overall thermal performance has improved greatly by using the corrugated channel with α = 0.1 for all Reynolds numbers. It was found that the total entropy generation has a minimum value at Re  = 20,000 for all values of wave amplitude and wavelength of the corrugated wall, which makes this specific Reynolds number the optimum value from the second law point of view.