Augmented heat transfer with intersecting rib in rectangular channels having different aspect ratios

Abstract This study was an experimental investigation of the effect of an intersecting rib on heat/mass transfer performance in rectangular channels with angled ribs and different aspect ratios. In a rib-roughened channel with angled ribs, heat/mass transfer performance deteriorates as the channel aspect ratio increases, since the vortices induced by angled ribs diminish with increasing aspect ratio. A longitudinal rib that bisects the angled ribs is suggested to overcome this disadvantage. The heat transfer performance of angled rib configurations with a 60° attack angle were tested with and without an intersecting rib using naphthalene sublimation method. The channel aspect ratio is varied from 1 to 4. When the intersecting rib was present, additional vortices were generated at every point of intersection with the angled ribs. Thus the heat/mass transfer performance was significantly enhanced for all channel aspect ratios when an intersecting rib was added to an ordinary angled rib configuration.