Int. Comm. Heat Mass Tmnsfc Vol. 28, No. 2. pp.

289-291, 2001
Copyright 0 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd
Frintedin the USA. All rights reserved
07351933/016-see front matter

PII: So7351933(01)002354

ON FORCED CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER FOR

A STORES FLOW IN A WAVY CHANNEL

M. Vasudeviah and K. Balamurugan

Department of Mathematics
Anna University
Chennai 600 025, India.

(Communicated

by A.R. Balakrishnan)

ABSTRACT
Study of heat transfer in a two-dimensional wavy channel due to a pressure driven Stokes
flow, normal to the wall corrugations, is made. Expression for the mean Nusselt number
describing the average rate of heat transfer from the warmer surface, obtained analytically,
predicts a decreased heat transfer rate due to corrugations. This observation is found to be
significantly opposite to the prevailing results of moderate or large Reynolds number flows.
432001 Elsevier Science Ltd
introduction

Flow past wavy boundaries are encountered

and in physiological

in many situations such as the rippling of melting surfaces

applications. Laminar flow of a viscous incompressible

fluid in a wavy/corrugated

channel bounded by the sinusoidal surfaces z = b sin(27ty/L) and z = a+b sin(2ay/L+p),

which are

otherwise parallel except for a phase shift p , Fig.1, was studied by Wang [ 1,2] when the pressure driven
flow is (i) parallel to the corrugations

and (ii) transverse

to the corrugations.

Wang [2] has shown

analytically that for a given mean pressure drop, the flow transverse to the corrugations always decreases
and that the phase shift p could be utilized to control the flow through corrugated surfaces. Nishimura,
Yoshino and Kawamura [3], adopting a finite element analysis, studied two-dimensional
a wavy channel with periodically converging
The related
considerations,

study of heat transfer

pulsatile flow in

- diverging cross-sections.
has been made by several

investigators

from energy

such as to simulate forced convective cooling of electronic packages etc. Straight ducts of

constant cross-section

with sinusoidally curved walls may be found in plate heat exchangers

as well as

in packing structures used in mass transport operations or in catalytic reactors. Enhancement

of heat

transfer by the wavy walls has been uniformly predicted by almost all workers in the field. Experimental

289

Vol. 28, No. 2

M. Vasudeviah and K. Balamurugan

290

Flow
a

FIG.1
Flow geometry : vertical section of the channel

evidence in this context can be traced to the work of Goldstein and Sparrow [4]. Sparrow and Hossfeld [5]
showed that the rounding of the wavy peaks brought about a decrease in the Nusseh number. Numerical
predictions of laminar flow and heat transfer in wavy channels of uniform cross-sectional
wall temperatures,
100

area, for equal

was made by Xin and Tao [6] for moderately large Reynolds number Re in the range

Re < 1000. Using Greens function technique, Rutledge and Sleicher [7] numerically

possibility of enhancement

of heat transfer rates by intentional roughening of surfaces. Recently Snyder.

Li and Wartz [8] experimentally

investigated forced convective heat transfer rates and pressure drops in

the thermally developed region of a two-dimensional

serpentine channel in the regime 250 < Re c 10000.

and observed that the heated surfaces of the channel outperformed

Fully developed,

studied the

laminar, natural convection

the base-line parallel plate channel.

flow in a vertical channel with isothermal corrugated walls

was studied by Faghri and Asako [9]. Using an algebraic transformation

to map the wavy channel into

a rectangular channel with plane surfaces, they presented averaged heat transfer results for Grashoff s
number Gr upto O(10) for different

aspect ratios. The significant

average Nusselt number and consequently

feature of their finding is that the

mass flow rates were found to be always less than those for a

channel with plane walls. However the work of Bhavnani and Bergles [lo] show enhanced heat transfer
results.
Observing

that all those investigations

Reynolds number flows, it appears interesting

are concerned

with large or atleast moderately

large

to study how the results would shape in low Reynolds

number flows. With this motivation. we wish to study the effect of corrugations and phase difference
heat transfer in the laminar regime of flow transverse to the corrugations

on

of sinusoidal wavy channels.

STOKES FLOW IN A WAVY CHANNEL

Vol. 28, No. 2

291

Such a study. coupled with the ease of controlling flow distribution in such wavy channels as evidenced
in the literature, can be effectively

made use of in food processing

industry where frequent cleaning and

sterilisation is necessary. Wangs [2] velocity analysis forms a basis for this study. The analogous heat
transfer problem in respect of flow parallel to the corrugations,

Wang [l] has been studied recently by

Vasudeviah and Patturaj [ 111.

Mathematical

Analvsis

Velocitv Field
The corrugated walls constitute stream surfaces for the flow, hence volumetric flow discharge per
unit time, per unit thickness of the channel is a constant Q for a given pressure drop. The appropriate
velocity field is (0, av//&,

-&p/Jy), where I# is the stream function.

We shall assume low Reynolds

flow such that the Stokes equation holds. Normalising the stream function by Q and all lengths by a
the mean gap width between the walls, the Stokes flow is obtainable as a solution of the boundary value
problem:
v4w=o

(1)

w = 0, awlan = 0 on 2 = E sin hy

(2)

y = 1, *ian

(3)

= 0 on z = 1 + E sin (hy + p)

a2
where

V2 =

ay2

a2
+

az2

and

1= 2xafL.

(4)

Here II is the normal direction to the boundary and L is the wave length of the sinusoidal

surfaces. A

regular perturbation solution for the flow field is sought in the form
I+l =
where

vo+&W,

+EZ~2+...,

(5)

i = 0,1,2,...

V4w, = 0,

(6)

The respective boundary conditions for vo, w,. v2 etc. are obtainable from the Eqns.(2-3) subjecting them
to Taylor expansions

around z=O and z=l respectively. The corresponding solutions, Wang [21 are as

follows :

WIJ=

322 - 223

y, =

eiaY(C,

IJI~.=

(312 + B,z + B2z2 - 2B3z3) + eIzky w2,(z)

eL + C, emb + C, z eh +

(7)

Cd Z e-9
+ e-i2)iy Wz,(z)

(8)
(9)

292

M. Vasudeviah and K. Balamurugan

Vol. 28, No. 2

where the real parts of w, and v2 only have any physical significance.

The values of the constants

appearing in the above solutions are listed in Wang [2]. The key result of Wangs work is the expression
for the total flow Q interns of mean pressure gradient, given as follows :

= ;= 1 - E*B, + 0 (a4) .

(10)

12 P

Temperature

Field

We now study the corresponding

heat transfer problem. The wavy section of the upper wall binded

by heaters on its outer surface is maintained at an elevated uniform temperature T,. Attaching a cooling
jacket to the outer surface of the lower wall, its surface temperature may be regulated to remain at the
entrance

flow temperature

Tt

of the fluid. Dropping

convective

terms in the energy equation

comparison to viscous dissipation terms, in the context of Stokes approximation

in

adopted in the velocity

analysis, the governing equation for the temperature distribution is given as

V2T=-Br[

where

T - Tp
-

Br =

$-

(11)

MQW*

and

is the Brinkman number.

(12)

k&-T1 )

T - Tl

Ensuing analysis is relevant for flow environment

unity. The appropriate boundary conditions

characterised

by Brinkmans number of order

are :

& sin hy

1 + E sin(hy + /3) on T = 1 I

on T=O

(13)
(14)

As in the velocity analysis, we proceed to obtain T in the form

T

T,,+ET~+E*T~+...

(15)

The Taylor expansion of the boundary conditions (13,14) give the corresponding

boundary conditions for

To, T,. T2 as follows :

2=

z=l

To = 0
T, + sin(hy) aTdaz
T, + sin(hy) dT,/az + $5 sir&y)

To= 1
= 0
a2T&iz2 = 0

T, + sin(Ly+P) BTo/az = 0
T2 + sin(Xy+P) dT,/az + w sin2(1y+8) $Tt-,Gz2 = 0
(16)

293

STOKES FLOW IN A WAVY CHANNEL

Vol. 28, No. 2

Substituting for v from Wangs analysis, T, solvable from

V2To = -36 Br (4~ - 42 + 1)

(17)

is obtained as
T, = z - 6 Br (2z4 - 4z3 + 3z2 - z) .

(18)

T, is obtainable as a real part of the solution of

V?,

= -24 Br eY (l-22) [(C,h2 + C,I. + C, hz) et

+ (C2h2 - C,X + C4h2z) e-1 ,

(19)

where C,, C,. C,, C4 are listed in Wang [2].

The appropriate boundary conditions
T,=(l+6Br)ieyon
The corresponding

are :

z=O

and

T, = (1 - 6 Br) ieiP eY on z = 1

(20)

solution is

T, = ey f(z),
where

f(z) =

(21)

M, eAz + M, e-h + Br [(8hC3z3 + 6h(2C,-C,)z*

- 6(2C,h + 2C,+C3)z)

exz

+ (-8hC4z3 + 6h(C4-2C2)z2 + 6(2C& - 2C2 - C~)Z) e-*z] ,

(e - e-3

M, = - (1 + 6Br)ie- + (1 - 6Br)ieib - Br g(k)

(e - e-3

M, = (1 + 6Br)ie* - (1 - 6Br)ie iP + Br g(A)

(22)

g(k) = (2C3X - 6C3 - 12C,) e - (2C& + 6C4 + 12C2)e- .

We see that this first order solution T, is periodic in y and therefore cannot contribute to the mean rate
of heat transfer. The second order solution T,, however may contain an aperiodic term which therefore
can contribute to the mean rate of heat transfer. The most general solution for T, is of the form
T2(y,z) = TZO(z) + ei2y T2,(z) + eSi2*y T22(~)

(23)

Our interest is however on T20 (z) only, which is solvable from

d?,

(24)

I dz2 = -24 Br (l-22) (B2 - 6B,z)

under the boundary conditions

Tzo(0) = 9 Br - i/2 f (0)

and

Tzo(l) = 9 Br - i/2 e-B f (1) .

(25)

The appropriate solution is

where

T2,$z) = d,z + d, - 4Br [3B,z2 - (2B, + 6B3)z3 + 6B3z4],

(26)

d,

(27)

4Br B2 + i/2 f(0) - i/2 e-P f (1)

and $ = 9Br - i/2 f (0).

294

M. Vasudeviah and K. Balamurugan

Vol. 28, No. 2

Results and Discussion

The point of physical interest here is to understand whether heat transfer enhancement is possible
due to corrugated walls; if so for what values of the phase difference

p its optimal value is real&d. This

is important from design considerations

directed towards effective transmission of heat from one medium

to another

savings.

and consequential

energy

Accordingly

we compute

the mean Nusselt number

describing the average rate of heat transfer from the warmer surface, per unit width along the corrugations,
for one full wave length of the wall, using the formula

where

I (- JTIW, =

ap

Nu =

(l/A)

(2Ra/h) (1 + ~*h*/4) is the corresponding

l+s

sin(ky+p)

(28)
surface area of the wall.

Making use of the available solution T upto O(&*), and subjecting @T/&I)~ = r+r sin(Iy+P) to a Taylor
expansions about z = 1, we finally obtain
Nu = (6 Br-1) + a* (N, + N2) + O(E~),

(29)

where

N, =

X2/4 - h coth h + h cosech 1 co@

(30)

and

N, =

Br(-36-

(31)

1.5X2).

The flow rate in the channel, Wang 121, quantified by the equation (10) is G= 1 - E* B, + O(E).
The expression for the real part of B,, computed and plotted by Wang for increasing 1 is found to be
always positive. Hence the flow rate decreases due to corrugations. Effectively this means that corrugations
offer flow resistance, consequently causing viscous heat generation. This generation of heat is represented
by the expression

E* N2, which is readily seen to be negative for all 1, and hence accounts for heat

transfer from the plate to the fluid. It may also be noted that N2 is not influenced by the phase difference
factor /3. Table 1 gives the numerical values of N2/Br for various values of 1 ranging from 0 to 10.

Effect of corrugations
J.N$Br

10

-36

-37.5

-42

-49.5

-60

-73.5

-90

-109.5

-132

-157.5

-186

The expression
corrugations

TABLE 1
on viscous heating of the fluid : N-/BR

a*N, appearing

in equation (31) may hence be understood

as measuring

the effect of

on heat transfer due to the impressed temperature difference T, - TI. Table 2 gives the

numerical values of N, for various values of A ranging from 0 to 10 for the phase difference @O. 90
and 180.

Effect of corruaations
b

295

STORES FLOW IN A WAVY CHANNEL

Vol. 28, No. 2

TABLE 2
on heat transfer due to the impressed temperature difference T,,-Tr : N,

O0

0.0000

-0.2121

-0.5232

90
180

-1.0000
-2.0000

-1.0630
-1.9140

-1.0746
-1.6261

-0.4654

0.1439

1.3169

3.0297

5.2628

8.0054

11.2522

-0.7649
-1.0644

-0.0027
-0.1493

1.2495
1.1822

2.9999
2.9702

5.2500
5.2372

8.0000
7.9946

11.2500
11.2478

For B=O, N, starts at zero and goes upto -0.5582 corresponding

to k2.5,

thus causing an increased

heating of the fluid. This increase reduces in size as h goes upto 3.5. Between k3.5
in sign thus accounting

and 4, Nl changes

for heat reversal. Such a kind of heat transfer persists and increases with the

frequency of the corrugations.

Similar phenomena is observed upto

B=90 . Beyond

p=90 , a little

difference is seen; heat transfer from the surface to the fluid always decreases steadily upto h=4, beyond
which N, becomes positive and keeps increasing with h, reflecting the earlier character.
It may be seen that for a given I, 1N, 1 is maximum at B=I? for a I 4 and at S=O for b4;
also the effect of p appears more pronounced
corrugations

and the phase difference

for hc4. This intricate interaction

of the frequency

of

is interesting; for some wave length inducing thermally driven

convection from the surface to the fluid and for some other wave lengths absorbing heat from the fluid.
From Tables 1 and 2 it is seen that the contribution of N, is substantial compared to N, and hence
&2(Nl+N2) remains negative for all A. The results of the entire analysis thus leads to the following key
observation

: Corrugations

not only retard the flow in the channel but also diminish the rate of heat

transfer from the warmer wall. Alternatively one can say that the heat transfer performance of a wavy wall
is inferior to that of a plane wall. Fig.2 shows Nu verses h for selected values of Br = 2.4.6,8 and E =
0.1.
This prediction of heat transfer reduction in respect of low Reynolds number flows, is significantly
different from the successful attempts of many workers in simulating heat transfer enhancement
of moderate or large Reynolds number flows, by incorporating small corrugations
surface. However our findings qualitatively
results are

difference

applicable

to free convection

in the case

into the heat exchange

agree with the reports of Faghri and Asako [9], though their
flows only. It may also be observed mat the effect of phase

on mean Nusselt number is very very marginal; maximum heat transfer occurring when the

walls are in phase and minimum when they are out of phase, for a given 1. However, in the case of flow
parallel to the corrugations,

the effect of /3 appears more pronounced as can be realised from the results

of Vasudeviah and Patturaj [ 1 I]. It is thus seen that orientation of pressure drive, coupled with factors like
wave length, phase difference,

mean distance between the walls etc. weave a complex

simulate heat transfer in the channel and each configuration

offers a study of its own.

mechanism

to

Vol. 28, No. 2

M. Vasudeviah and K. Balamurugan

296

FIG.2
Mean Nusselt number : Nu vs 1,
Nomenclature

mean gap-width of the channel, m

amplitude of the corrugation,

Br

Brinkman number

Gf

Grashoff number

thermal conductivity,

wl(m.K)

wave-length of the corrugations,

outward normal direction to the wall. m

Nu

mean Nusselt number

dimensional pressure, N/m

volumetric flow discharge per unit time, per unit thickness of the channel, m*/s

non-dimensional

Re

flow Reynolds number

TRIT
T

temperatures on the lower and upper walls, respectively,

non-dimensional

temperature of fluid, K

X,Y,Z dimensional
x.y,z

volumetric flow

temperatures,

spatial coordinates,

non-dimensional

respectively
m

spatial coordinates

291

STOKES FLOW IN A WAVY CHANNEL

Vol. 28, No. 2

phase shift of the corrugated surfaces

frequency of the corrugation

dynamic viscosity, N.s/m2

dimensionless

stream function, m2/s

amplitude of the corrugations

non-dimensional

(b/a)

stream functions

References
1.

C.-Y. Wang, ASCE, 1. Engg Mech, 102, 1088 (1976).

2.

C.-Y. Wang, ASME, J. Appl. Mech, 46, 462 (1979).

3.

T. Nishimura, T. Yoshino and Y. Kawamura, J. Chem. Engg. Japan, 20(S), 479 (1987).

4.

L. Goldstein and J.M.E. Sparrow, J. Heat Transfer, 99, 187 (1977).

5.

E.M. Sparrow and L.M. Hossfeld, Zt~r.J. Hear Mass Transfer, 27(10),

6.

R.C.Xin and W.Q. Tao, Nr. Heat Transfer,

7.

J. Rutledge and CA. Sleicher, Comm. Nr. Methods in Engg, 10, 489 (1994).

8.

B. Snyder, K.T. Li and R.A. Wartz, In?. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 36(12), 2965 (1993).

9.

M. Faghri and Y. Asako, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 29, 1931 (1986).

14,465.

(1988).

10. S.H. Bhavnani and AI. Bergles, Wiierme-und stofiibertragung,

11. M. Vasudeviah

and R. Patturaj, Proc.

1715 (1984).

First Annual

26, 341 (1991).

Conf. ISIAM,

Roorkee.

India. 55. (1993).

Received October 6, 2000