Experimental Investigation of Forced Convective Cooling of Rectangular Blocks

Abstract

A heat transfer analysis is carried out from a family (or array) of five protruding heated aluminum blocks spaced at equidistance on the bottom of a channel, made of acrylic plate, using air as the cooling medium. Hydraulic diameter-based Reynolds number for airflow rate through channel is maintained in a range 6000–14,610, while input heat flux to each block is set at a fixed value of 5656.1 W/m2. From the experimental results, correlations of mean Nusselt number with Reynolds number are made for different aluminum blocks. The developed correlation obtained thus shows that the first test piece of the array of blocks has greater Reynolds number exponent. This is arguably associated with the greater heat transfer from the upstream vertical face caused by impingement of core fluid flow on the vertical face.