Influence Of Inclined-End Baffle Orientation On The Thermal And Thermodynamic Performance Of A Rectangular Channel: A Numerical Investigation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22399/ijcesen.5310Keywords:
Inclined-end baffles, Heat exchanger, Reynolds number, Bejan numberAbstract
A numerical study was conducted to investigate the influence of inclined-end baffle orientation on the thermal and thermodynamic performance of a rectangular channel equipped with two baffles. Four geometric configurations were examined while maintaining the same inclination angle (45°) and varying only the baffle orientation. The analysis was performed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in ANSYS Fluent, based on the Finite Volume Method (FVM) and the SIMPLE algorithm, with the standard k-ε turbulence model. The study evaluated velocity, pressure, and temperature fields, as well as the average Nusselt number, entropy generation, and Bejan number. The results showed that baffle orientation strongly affects flow behavior and heat transfer characteristics. The converging configuration provided the highest heat transfer performance with relatively low entropy generation, whereas the both-facing-downstream configuration yielded the lowest total entropy generation and the best thermodynamic performance.
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