Wall coupling effect in channel forced convection with streamwise periodic boundary heat flux variation

The present paper deals with the laminar forced convection in a parallel-plane channel, and is aimed to investigate the effect of conducting walls. On the external boundaries of the duct walls a thermal boundary condition is prescribed, such that the wall heat flux longitudinally varies with sinusoidal law. The local energy balance equation is written separately for the fluid and the solid regions, with reference to the fully developed regime, and then solved both analytically and numerically. Moreover, the local and average Nusselt numbers in a longitudinal period are evaluated. The average Nusselt number, if regarded as a function of the dimensionless pulsation, displays an interesting feature. In fact, for all the considered cases, it has a minimum, so that there exists a value of the dimensionless pulsation such that the heat exchange between the fluid and the solid wall is considerably inhibited.