Abstract
An experimental study of heat transfer in a radially rotating rectangular channel of aspect ratio 1/2 with two opposite walls roughened by 45° staggered ribs is performed. Heat transfer distributions along centerlines of two rib-roughened surfaces are measured for the radially outward airflow at test conditions of Reynolds number (Re), rotation number (Ro) and density ratio (Δρ/ρ) in the ranges of 5000-15,000, 0-2 and 0.07-0.28. The rotating test rig permits the generation of heat transfer data with Ro considerably higher than previous data ranges. A selection of experimental data illustrates the individual and interactive influences of Re, Ro and buoyancy number (Bu) on local heat transfer with two channel orientations of 0° and 45°. With Ro varying from 0.1 to 2, heat transfer ratios between rotating and static channels on the stable and unstable rib-roughened surfaces with 0° (45°) of channel orientation are in the ranges of 0.5-1.42 (0.5-1.49) and 1.08-2.73 (1.06-2.21) respectively. A set of heat transfer correlations for the test geometry with channel orientations of 0° is derived to evaluate the local Nusselt number (Nu) in the periodically developed region with Re, Ro and Bu as the controlling flow parameters. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.