Experimental investigation on heat-transfer enhancement due to a gap in an inclined continuous rib arrangement in a rectangular duct of solar air heater

Artificial roughness in the form of repeated ribs has been proposed as a convenient method for enhancement of thermal performance of solar air heaters. This paper presents the experimental investigation of heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of a rectangular duct roughened with repeated square cross-section split-rib with a gap, on one broad wall arranged at an inclination with respect to the flow direction. The duct has a width to height ratio (W/H) of 5.84, relative roughness pitch (P/e) of 10, relative roughness height (e/Dh) of 0.0377, and angle of attack (α) of 60°. The gap width (g/e) and gap position (d/W) were varied in the range of 0.5–2 and 0.1667–0.667, respectively. The heat transfer and friction characteristics of this roughened duct have been compared with those of the smooth duct under similar flow condition. The effect of gap position and gap width has been investigated for the range of flow Reynolds numbers from 3000 to 18,000. The maximum enhancement in Nusselt number and friction factor is observed to be 2.59 and 2.87 times of that of the smooth duct, respectively. The thermo-hydraulic performance parameter is found to be the maximum for the relative gap width of 1.0 and the relative gap position of 0.25.