The effect of non-circular perforation holes in term of circularity of V-shaped blockages attached to one heated wall of a rectangular duct of solar air heater.
Perforated V-shaped blockages attached on one broad wall which is exposed to uniform heat flux in solar air heater duct have been investigated with respected to heat transfer and friction characteristics. The effect of circularity of perforation holes, relative pitch ratio, relative blockage height, open area ratio and angle of attack on Nusselt number and friction factor has been studied for flow Reynolds number range of 2000–20,000. The major findings
of this study are given below:
(1) Non-circular perforation holes was been found to result in higher heat transfer as compared to circular holes with same open area ratio; and there is optimum non-circular shape that corresponds to a circularity of 0.69.
(2) Maximum enhancement in Nusselt number and friction factor is found to correspond to an angle attack value of 60.
(3) The highest increase in the value of Nusselt number has been observed at a relative pitch of 8, however the highest observed value of friction factor corresponding to relative pitch of 4.
(4) Nusselt number and friction factor correlations have been developed which can predict the corresponding values of Nusselt number and friction factor with the absolute percentage deviation of 5.03% and 4.99%, respectively.