Flow and heat transfer in a pin-fin array

Confined Flows

Underlying Flow Regime 4-18

Best Practice Advice

Key Physics

Our aim in the present test-case is to predict the following physical parameters:

The pressure drop across the matrix,
The average and local Nusselt numbers on the bottom wall.

The temperature transport is reduced to the forced convection regime, thus predicting the dynamics of the flow is the critical issue. The two key physical phenomena which have then to be captured here are:

The vortex shedding around the pins,
The horseshoe vortices due to the interaction between the pins and the endwall.

Numerical Modelling

Discretisation method
Grids and grid resolution

Physical Modelling

Turbulence modelling
Transition modelling
Near-wall modelling
Other modelling

Application Uncertainties

Summarise any aspects of the UFR model set-up which are subject to uncertainty and to which the assessment parameters are particularly sensitive (e.g location and nature of transition to turbulence; specification of turbulence quantities at inlet; flow leakage through gaps etc.)

Recommendations for Future Work

Propose further studies which will improve the quality or scope of the BPA and perhaps bring it up to date. For example, perhaps further calculations of the test-case should be performed employing more recent, highly promising models of turbulence (e.g Spalart and Allmaras, Durbin's v2f, etc.). Or perhaps new experiments should be undertaken for which the values of key parameters (e.g. pressure gradient or streamline curvature) are much closer to those encountered in real application challenges.

Contributed by: Sofiane Benhamadouche — EDF