Heat Transfer Enhancement and Pressure Loss Characteristics of Zig-Zag Channel With Dimples and Protrusions

This paper described a detailed experimental study to explore an internal cooling passage that mimic a “zig-zag” pattern. There are four passages connected by 110° turning angle in a periodic fashion, hence the name. Experiments are performed in a scaled-up test channel with a cross-section of 63.5mm by 25.4mm, corresponding to the aspect ratio of 2.5:1. Compared to the conventional straight internal cooling passages, the zig-zag channel with several turns will generate additional secondary vortices while providing longer flow path that allows coolant to remove much more heat load prior to discharge into the hot mainstream. Surface features, (1) dimples, and (2) protrusions are added to the zig-zag channel to further enhance the heat transfer, while contributed to larger wetted area. The experiment utilizes the well-established transient liquid crystal technique to determine the local heat transfer coefficient distribution of the entire zig-zag channel. Protrusions exhibit higher heat transfer enhancement than that of dimples. However, both designs proved to be inferior compared to the rib-turbulators. Pressure loss in these test channels is approximately twofold higher than that of straight smooth test channel due to the presence of turns; but the pressure loss is lower than the zig-zag channel with rib-turbulators. The result revealed that one advantage of having either protrusions or dimples as these surface elements will resulted in gradual and more uniform increment of heat transfer throughout the entire channel compared to previous test cases.