Augmentation of heat transfer in a channel using a triangular prism

Heat transfer in a channel in presence of a triangular prism has been numerically investigated in the turbulent flow regime up to the Reynolds number of 40 000. The aspect ratio of channel to the prism element was fixed at 4.0. The Navier–Stokes equation along with the energy equation has been solved using SIMPLE technique and the standard k–ε formulation was chosen for turbulence closure. While a structured rectangular grid was used over the entry and exit regions, the area adjacent to the prism element was discretized using an unstructured triangular mesh. The results indicate that in presence of a triangular element, heat transfer in a channel is augmented by around 15%. The enhancement in heat transfer is related to the vortex formation downstream of the prism element. However, the augmentation is associated with higher values of skin friction coefficient on the channel wall.