An inverse study to optimize the rib pitch in a two-dimensional channel flow problem for heat transfer enhancement

An inverse convection heat transfer in a two-dimensional channel mounted with square ribs was concerned in the present work. A simplified conjugate gradient method was adopted for optimizing the convection heat transfer. The optimal pitch ratio of the ribs was searched under the maximum heat transfer rate. The sensitivity and adjoint problems were not considered but a constant search step size was applied. The results showed that the simplified conjugate gradient method can be used to search the optimal pitch ratio of the ribs at various initial values. But the constant search step size may result in the oscillation of the numerical results. The searched optimal pitch ratio with the inverse method at one Reynolds number can be spread to a large range of Reynolds numbers.