Effects of Baffle on Entropy Generation in Separated Convection Flow Adjacent to Inclined Backward-Facing Step

Asad Bahrami, Seyyed Abdolreza Gandjalikhan Nassab, Maliheh Hashemipour

Computer Department, Kerman Branch of Azad University, Kerman, Iran.
Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/jectc.2012.24006                

Abstract

Numerical simulations of a two-dimensional laminar forced convection flow adjacent to inclined backward-facing step in a rectangular duct are presented to examine effects of baffle on flow, heat transfer and entropy generation distributions. The main aim of using baffles is to enhance the value of convection coefficient on the bottom wall. But the useful energy can be destroyed due to intrinsic irreversibilities in the flow by the baffle. In the present work, the amount of energy loss is estimated by the computation of entropy generation. The values of velocity and temperature which are the inputs of the entropy generation equation are obtained by the numerical solution of momentum and energy equations with blocked-off method using computational fluid dynamic technique. Discretized forms of the governing equations in the (x, y) plane are obtained by the control volume method and solved using the SIMPLE algorithm. Numerical expressions, in terms of Nusselt number, entropy generation number, Bejan number and coefficient of friction are derived in dimensionless form. Results show that although a baffle mounted onto the upper wall increases the magnitude of Nusselts number on the bottom wall, but a considerable increase in the amount of entropy generation number takes place because of this technique. For validation, the numerical results for the Nusselt number and entropy generation number are compared with theoretical findings by other investigators and reasonable agreement is found.

Keywords

Entropy Generation; Inclined Backward Step; Baffle; Convection Flow

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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