Numerical study and identification of cooling of heated blocks in pulsating channel flow with a rotating cylinder

•Averaged-Nu for each of the blocks is enhanced with increment of Re.•Averaged-Nu generally increases gradually with increasing values of St.•For Ω > 0, heat transfer is maximum for the rear face of the second block.•For Ω < 0, heat transfer is maximum for the top face of the second block.

A numerical study of pulsating channel flow with heated blocks in the presence of an adiabatic rotating cylinder is performed. The governing equations are solved with a finite volume based commercial solver. The effects of pulsating frequency, Reynolds number and cylinder rotation angle on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics from the surface of the heated blocks are numerically studied. It is observed that the flow field and heat transfer rate are influenced by the variations of these parameters. Furthermore, nonlinear models are created to identify the dynamics of the heat transfer for each of the surface of the blocks using system identification.