Effect of rib orientation on heat transfer and flow characteristics of mist/steam in square channels

Abstract This paper numerically qualifies the effect of rib orientation on heat transfer and flow performances of mist/steam in square channels with inclined ribs. Four types of rib orientations are investigated. The study is conducted in contrast to steam with Reynolds number ranged from 10,000 to 60,000. Secondary flow patterns and droplet trajectories are analyzed to reveal the underlying reasons bringing about heat transfer enhancement due to mist/steam. The results indicate that rib orientation greatly determines secondary flow pattern in channels, and the distribution of secondary flow triggered by N type ribs is opposite to that by P type ribs. Such secondary flow forces droplets at different locations to assemble near different side walls. The places where water drops gather in a large quantity provide splendid heat transfer enhancement. And this effect gets more obvious at higher Reynolds number. For mist/steam, both heat transfer coefficient and overall heat transfer performance in the first passage are remarkably stronger than that in the second one. In general, NN channels and PP channels filled with mist/steam have the best heat transfer performance among the investigated cases.