Optimization of a novel trapezoidal staggered ribs configuration for enhancement of a solar air heater performance using CFD

A novel transverse trapezoidal staggered ribs configuration as artificial roughness is investigated using CFD to understand the fluid flow and heat transfer behaviors for improving the performance of a solar air heater. In addition, experimental validation of Nusselt numbers for smooth duct against CFD results is established. The staggered ribs arrangement outperforms the continuous ribs and insights obtained from the thermal-fluid flow behaviors are further applied to optimize the staggered arrangements of the rib. Reynolds number Re is varied from 5000 to 24,000, and rib parameters are optimized with a special focus on understanding the effects of discontinuous rib width (w) and gap width (g). Two widely studied shapes of rib, namely, cylindrical and rectangular, are also investigated for the transverse staggered arrangement with the same optimized parameters for the comparison of thermo-hydraulic performances. Trapezoidal ribs having discontinuous rib width of 50 mm and gap width of 10 mm give the maximum thermo-hydraulic performance of 1.57 at Reynolds number of 5000. The optimized staggered trapezoidal ribs outperform the staggered cylindrical and rectangular ribs. However, staggered rectangular ribs give the highest increase in the Nusselt number and these may be preferred for application when pressure drop is not of concern.