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Solar Energy 111 (2015) 313–319
www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Optimization of thermo hydraulic performance in three sides

artificially roughened solar air heaters
B.N. Prasad ⇑, Ashwini Kumar, K.D.P. Singh
Mechanical Engineering Department, N.I.T., Jamshedpur 831014, India

Received 4 September 2014; received in revised form 16 October 2014; accepted 21 October 2014
Available online 25 November 2014

Communicated by: Brian Nortons

Abstract

Providing artificial roughness on the air flow side is an effective technique to enhance rate of heat transfer in solar air heaters, which
results in associated higher value of friction factor, and more power required. A novel solar air heater duct with three artificially rough-
ened sides has been analyzed (Prasad et al., 2014), for more increase in heat transfer than that in only one side roughened solar air heat-
ers. Artificially roughened solar air heaters have been analyzed (Prasad and Saini, 1991) and investigated (Verma and Prasad, 2000), for
optimal thermo hydraulic performance. The present analysis deals with optimization of thermo hydraulic performance in three sides arti-
qffiffiffiffi
f r
ficially roughened solar air heaters, and arrives at the conclusion that the equation given by eþ
opt ¼ e=D 2
Re ¼ 23, always corresponds to
the optimal thermo hydraulic performance, when every set of the values of the roughness and flow parameters p/e, e/D and Re, separately
or combined, results in the optimal thermo hydraulic performance. Optimal thermo hydraulic performance of such solar air heater is
both quantitatively and qualitatively better than one side roughened solar air heaters.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Relative roughness pitch (p/e); Relative roughness height (e/D); Stanton number roughness parameter (B1); Efficiency roughness parameter
(C1); Efficiency parameter (L1); Roughness Reynolds number (e+)

1. Introduction A number of solar air heaters have been designed and devel-
oped over the years to refine their thermal enactment. The
Fully developed turbulent flow heat transfer and friction thermal efficiency of solar air heaters is usually low due to
factor for artificially roughened ducts, annuli and tubes low value of heat transfer coefficient between absorber plate
have been widely studied by Nunner (1958), Webb et al. and flowing air, which raises the absorber plate tempera-
(1971), Han (1984), Lewis (1975a,b), Sheriff and Gumley ture, leading to higher heat losses. For the enhancement
(1966), Dipprey and Sabersky (1963), Kolar (1964), Owen of heat transfer coefficient, extensive information is avail-
and Thomson (1963), Dalle Donne and Meyer (1977), able in literature. Prasad and saini (1988) analyzed for heat
Edwards and Sheriff (1961) and Webb and Eckert (1972). transfer enhancement for fully developed turbulent flow in a
Use of artificial roughness to enhance heat transfer in flat solar air heater duct with small diameter wires on the absor-
plate solar air heater for low temperature energy technology ber plate. Gupta et al. (1997) used continuous ribs at an
have attracted the attention of researchers in a wide range. inclination of 60° to the air flow direction. Karwa et al.
(1999) used chamfered rib roughness on the absorber plate
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9431344731. and found that at low flow rate, higher relative roughness
E-mail address: [email protected] (B.N. Prasad). height yields a better performance.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2014.10.030
0038-092X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
314 B.N. Prasad et al. / Solar Energy 111 (2015) 313–319

Nomenclature

B solar air heater duct height, m h+ roughness Reynolds number (Lewis,

B1 Stanton number roughness parameter, 1975a,b) = e+
B1 ¼ GH  P rt RM L collector length
C1 efficiency roughness parameter, c1 = 2.5 L1 efficiency parameter, L1 = C1  B1
ln(e+) + 5.5  RM p pitch of roughness element, m
D hydraulic diameter of solar air heater duct, m p/e relative roughness pitch
e roughness height, m Pr Prandtl number
e/D relative roughness height qffiffiffiffi P rt turbulent Prandtl number

e+ roughness Reynolds number, eþ ¼ e=D f2r Re Re Reynolds number
(Present case) qffiffi RM momentum transfer roughness function,

e+ roughness Reynolds number, eþ ¼ e=D f2 Re RM = 0.95(p/e)0.53
(Prasad and Saini, 1991) S ts Stanton number for smooth solar air heater
eþopt optimum value of e+ St average Stanton number (Prasad and Saini,
fS friction factor in smooth solar air heater 1988)
fr friction factor in roughened solar air heater S tr average Stanton number (Prasad et al., 2014)
f average friction factor (Prasad and Saini, 1988) W width of solar air heater
f r average friction factor (Prasad et al., 2014) g efficiency parameter, defined by Eqs. (7)–(9)
GH heat transfer roughness function, GH = 4.5(e+)0.28
(Pr)0.57

The recent works of Prasad (2013) and Prasad et al. of roughness Reynolds number, e+ = 35, for the optimal
(2014) for fully developed turbulent flow in artificially thermo hydraulic condition. Optimal thermo hydraulic
roughened solar air heater for heat transfer and friction performance analysis in one side artificially roughened
factor are available. Three sides artificially roughened solar air heater of Prasad and Saini (1991) has constituted
solar air heater duct (Prasad et al., 2014), with a large a particular set of values of roughness and flow parame-
aspect ratio (W  B) is a novel one, where correlations ters to give the value of roughness Reynolds number,
predict the effect of roughness and flow parameters (p/e, e+ = 24, for optimal thermo hydraulic condition. Optimal
e/D, Re) on heat transfer for fully developed turbulent thermo hydraulic performance of solar air heaters has
flow, and results are found to be even better than one side been investigated (Verma and Prasad, 2000), for the max-
roughened solar air heaters. As the enhancement of heat imum heat transfer and minimum pressure drop to arrive
transfer coefficient is attempted by providing artificially at the conclusion that the value of e+ = 24, corresponds
roughness, it always goes with an increment of pressure to the optimal thermo hydraulic performance. In addi-
drop and the requirement of pumping power is increased. tion, a number of investigators have shown their interest
So, there is a need to optimize the system parameters to and have worked on different roughness geometries.
maximize heat transfer while keeping friction losses as Mittall and Varshney (2005) has worked on optimal
low as possible. thermo hydraulic performance of wire mesh packed solar
Analysis for the optimal thermo hydraulic performance heater. Second law optimization of solar air heater having
of rough surfaces (circular tube with ribs) to heat exchan- chamfered rib groove as a roughness element has been
ger design was made by Webb et al. (1971), covering a analyzed by Layek et al. (2007). Karmare and Tikeka
wide range of the values of heat transfer surface area, (2008) has optimized the thermo hydraulic performance
overall heat conductance and flow friction power to of solar air heater integrated with metal rib as roughness
obtain the conclusion that the value of parameter, rough- element. CFD based thermo hydraulic performance
ness Reynolds number, e+ = 20, gives the optimal thermo (Yadav and Bhagoria, 2014) has been found out to be
hydraulic performance. For optimal thermo hydraulic 2.11 at e/D equal to 0.042 and p/e equal to 7.14 for equi-
performance of circular tube roughened with ribs, Lewis lateral triangular rib section, using ANSYS FLUENT at
(1975a,b) introduced new efficiency parameters (L1, Re = 15,000.
B1, C1, GH and RM) and arrived at the conclusion that Based on the fluid flow and heat transfer analysis
the value of the roughness Reynolds number (Prasad et al., 2014), the present work deals with the
h+ = e+ = 20, corresponds to the optimal thermo hydrau- thermo hydraulic optimization of three sides artificially
lic condition. Sheriff and Gumley (1966) has studied for roughened solar air heater to get the maximum heat trans-
annulus with wire type roughness and found the value fer for the minimum pumping power (friction factor).
 B.N. Prasad et al. / Solar Energy 111 (2015) 313–319 315

2. Optimization methodology

The methodology of optimization adopted is similar to

those of Lewis (1975a,b) and Prasad and Saini (1991),
that a dimensionless parameter, e+ (roughness Reynolds
number), could plausibly form the basis to analyze for
optimal thermo hydraulic performance of three sides arti-
ficially roughened solar air heaters with large value of
aspect ratio utilizing the correlations developed (Prasad
et al., 2014), for friction factor and heat transfer written
here under as Eqs. (1) and (2) respectively for the solar Fig. 1b. Absorber plate with artificial roughness.
air heater duct model of width W and height B, shown
in Fig. 1a with provision of roughness elements of pitch, rffiffiffiffiffi
p and height, e on the absorber plate as shown in Fig. 1b fr
þ
of length L. where; e ¼ e=D Re ð6Þ
2
ðW þ 2BÞf r þ Wfs The optimization parameter g, for the present case of
f r ¼ ð1Þ three sides roughened solar air heater is defined in a similar
2ðW þ BÞ
way as those of Lewis (1975a,b) and Prasad and Saini
fr =2 (1991), and written under as Eq. (7):
Str ¼ p fr h p0:53 i ð2Þ
0:28
1þ 2
4:5ðeþ Þ Pr0:57  0:95 e S tr
3
f r  
g¼ ¼ f r ; GH ; RM ð7Þ
S tS fs
where, W/B  1, and fr is as that of Webb et al. (1971) and
considered by Prasad and Saini (1991), written under as which can further be written as:
Eq. (3) g ¼ gðf r ; B1 ; C 1 Þ ð8Þ
2 and could further also be represented as:
fr ¼ h p0:53 D i2 ð3Þ
 
0:95 e
þ 2:5 ln 2e
 3:75 g ¼ g f r ; L1 ð9Þ

Consequently, substituting for fr, Eq. (1) could be writ- where,

ten to be Eq. (4) as under: B1 ¼ GH  P rt RM
" # 0:28 0:53
¼ 4:5ðeþ Þ P 0:57
r  P rt  0:95ðp=eÞ ð10Þ
2
ðW þ 2BÞ  p 0:53
2 þ Wfs
0:95ðÞ ð Þ3:75 D
þ2:5 ln 2e C 1 ¼ 2:5 lnðeþ Þ þ 5:5  RM
fr ¼
e
ð4Þ
2 ð W þ BÞ ¼ 2:5 lnðeþ Þ5:5  0:95ðp=eÞ0:53 ð11Þ
Now, substituting for the parameters, heat transfer L1 ¼ C 1  B1
roughness function, GH = 4.5(e+)0.28Pr0.57 and momentum
0:53 ¼ 2:5 lnðeþ Þ þ 5:5  GH  RM ð1  P rt Þ ð12Þ
transfer roughness function, RM ¼ 0:95ðp=eÞ , Eq. (2)
could be written as Eq. (5) under: Also, that, the following equations for smooth solar air
heater are used in Eq. (7):
fr =2 1
S tr ¼ p fr ðG  R Þ ð5Þ
1 þ ð2Þ H M
f S ¼ 0:079Re0:25 ð13Þ
S ts ¼ 0:023Re0:2 P r2=3 ð14Þ

3. Results and discussions

The values of fr, fs and S ts have been worked out by

substituting the values of geometrical and operating
parameters W, B, p/e, e/D and Re in Eqs. (3), (13) and
(14) respectively, which have further been utilized to work
out for the values of f r , S tr and g, by the respective equa-
tions. The values of the parameters, e+, B1, C1, and
L1 have also been worked out by the respective equations,
taking the value of the turbulent Prandtl number, P rt , equal
Fig. 1a. Three sides roughened solar air heater duct. to 0.90. The values of the parameters as above have been
316 B.N. Prasad et al. / Solar Energy 111 (2015) 313–319

Re ≈ 3000 − 20000 e/D = 0.0279 and p/e= 10,20 &40

(1) p/e=10
e/D=0.0279 (Preseant Case)
e/D=0.0205 (Prasad and Saini,1991)
Re ≈ 3000 − 20000
4.8 (2) p/e=20
(1) p/e=10 (Preasent case) (3) p/e=40
4.6
(2) p/e=10 (Prasad and Saini,1991)
(3) p/e=20 (Present case) (1)
4.4
10 (4) p/e=20 (Prasad and Saini,1991)
(5) p/e=40 (Present case) 4.2
(6) p/e=40 (Prasad and Saini,1991)
(3) 4.0
8 (2) 3.8 (2) (1)
(3)
3.6
(4) (5) -1 3.4
6 L
3.2

-1
3.0
B 4 (6) 2.8
2.6

2 2.4
2.2
2.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65

+
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 e = e / D f r / 2 Re

e + = e / D f r / 2 Re Fig. 4. Effect of e+ on L1 for varying values of p/e.

Fig. 2. Effect of e+ on B1 for varying values of p/e. (Prasad and Saini, 1988), and written under as Eqs. (15)
and (16):
Re ≈ 3000 − 20000 ðW þ 2BÞf S þ Wfr
e/D=0.0279 (Present Case) f ¼ ð15Þ
e/D=0.0205 (Prasad and Saini,1991) 2ðW þ BÞ
(1) p/e=10 (Present Case)
(2) p/e=10 (Prasad and Saini,1991)
14 (3) p/e=20 (Present Case) (1) f =2
(4) p/e=20 (Prasad and Saini,1991) St ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffih  0:53 i ð16Þ
1 þ f =2 4:5ðeþ Þ0:28 Pr0:57  0:95 pe
(5) p/e=40 (Present Case)
(6) p/e=40 (Prasad and Saini,1991)
12 (3)
(2)
It is clear from Figs. 2 and 3 that values of both the
10 (4)
(5) parameters, B1 and C1 are higher in the case of three
sides artificially roughened solar air heater than those of
8 only one side artificially roughened solar air heater
-1 (6)
C
(Prasad and Saini, 1988). Fig. 4 has been drawn to see
6 the effect of e+ on L1, for varying values of p/e, equal
to 10, 20 and 40, which shows that the value of the effi-
4 ciency parameter L1, increases with the increasing value
of e+, up to certain maximum value, when after its value
2
decreases with increasing value of e+, all values of the rel-
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
ative roughness pitch, p/e, equal to 10, 20 and 40. It
+
e = e / D f r / 2 Re appears that the maximum value of the parameter, L1,
Fig. 3. Effect of e+ on C1 for varying values of p/e.
falls between 20 and 30.
To ascertain the particular value of e+, Table 1 and
worked out, assuming that W/B  1, p/e P 10 and e/D, so Fig. 5 have been prepared, which show that e+ = 23 gives
selected that the roughness height is of the order of or Table 1
slightly greater than the viscous sub-layer thickness of the Range of efficiency parameter L1 as a function of e+ and p/e.
hydrodynamic boundary layer over a flat plate (Prasad p/e = 10 p/e = 20 p/e = 40
and Saini, 1991). The values of flow Reynolds number vary e+ L1 e+ L1 e+ L1
from 3000 to 20,000. 17 4.143224 17 4.000322 17 3.793982
Since, the parameter, e+, has remained the optimization 22 4.180075 22 4.037173 22 3.830833
parameter in literature, Figs. 2–4 have been drawn to see 23 4.181923 23 4.039021 23 3.832681
the effect of e+ on the parameters C1, B1, and L1, for 24 4.177088 24 4.034186 24 3.827846
25 4.181683 25 4.038781 25 3.832441
the present analysis and that of Prasad and Saini (1991). 26 4.179871 26 4.036969 26 3.830629
It could be seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that the values of the 28 4.17343 28 4.030528 28 3.824188
parameters B1 and C1 increase with increasing values 30 4.163822 30 4.02092 30 3.81458
of e+. Figs. 2 and 3 also show the results for one side 34 4.137277 34 3.994375 34 3.788035
artificially roughened solar air heater, based on the heat 23 is the new optimal value of roughness Reynolds number and it indicates
transfer and friction factor correlations developed that at any value of p/e it has the highest value.
 B.N. Prasad et al. / Solar Energy 111 (2015) 313–319 317

4.2 0.09
+
eopt ≈ 23
+
e 0.08
23 Re=3000
25
4.1 22
0.07
26
24
28
0.06 4000
30
4.0 17
34
-1 0.05 5000
L e/D

6000
0.04
3.9 7000
8000
0.03

0.02
3.8 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

p/e

Fig. 6.1. Optimal thermohydraulic performance curve for three sides

10 15 20 25 30 35 40
artificially roughened solar air heater.
p/e
1
Fig. 5. The efficiency parameter L as a function of p/e and e+.
0.030

1
the maximum value of the efficiency parameter L for all 0.028

values of p/e. Therefore, the optimal thermo hydraulic per- Re=9000

0.026
formance equation for three sides artificially roughened 10000
solar air heater could be written as: 0.024
11000
rffiffiffiffiffi 0.022
þ f r 12000
eopt ¼ e=D Re ¼ 23 ð17Þ 13000
2 0.020

qffiffiffiffi e/D 14000

f r 0.018
Hence, the roughness Reynolds number, eþ opt ¼ e=D 2
Re,
0.016
constituting a specific set of values of roughness and flow
parameters p/e, e/D and Re to obtain eþ opt ¼ 23, could result 0.014
in the maximum heat transfer for minimum pressure drop.
0.012
The set of values of p/e, e/D and Re vary with variance in 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

either of the values of p/e, e/D and Re, individually or com- p/e
bined, and may form the basis for preparing design curves
Fig. 6.2. Optimal thermohydraulic performance curve for three sides
to give the optimal thermo hydraulic performance of three artificially roughened solar air heater.
sides artificially roughened solar air heaters in a similar
way as those of Prasad and Saini (1991).
Therefore, the optimal thermo hydraulic performance
qffiffiffiffi
f r 0.018
equation given by equation, eþ opt ¼ e=D 2
Re ¼ 23, has
formed the basis for preparing the optimal thermo hydrau-
Re=15000
lic performance curves for three sides artificially roughened 0.016
solar air heaters as shown in Figs. 6.1–6.3. 16000

Table 2 shows the different values of the optimal rough- 17000

0.014
ness Reynolds number, eþ opt , found in literature for different
e/D 18000
19000
roughness geometries and range of values of roughness and 20000
flow parameters for fully developed turbulent flow, with 0.012
the present value of eþ opt ¼ 23, as well.
Fig. 7 represents the optimal thermo hydraulic perfor-
mance curves, corresponding to the equation 0.010
qffiffiffiffi
f r
eþopt ¼ e=D 2
Re ¼ 23, for the present solar air heater and 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
those of Prasad and Saini (1991), corresponding to the
qffiffi p/e
f
equation eþ opt ¼ e=D 2
Re ¼ 24, for the same values of flow Fig. 6.3. Optimal thermohydraulic performance curve for three sides
Reynolds number, Re. It could be seen from this figure that artificially roughened solar air heater.
318 B.N. Prasad et al. / Solar Energy 111 (2015) 313–319

Table 2
Value of eþ
opt for different roughness geometries for fully developed turbulent flow.

Sl. no. References Roughness geometry type p/e e/D Re eþ

opt
4 3
1. Sheriff and Gumley (1966) Annulus with wires 10 – 10 –2  10 35
2. Webb and Eckert (1972) Rectangular 10–40 0.01–0.04 6–100  103 20
3. Lewis (1975a,b) Circular tubes with ribs 2–60 0.02–0.1 – 20
4. Prasad and saini (1991) Rectangular duct with thin wires on one side 10–40 0.020–0.033 3–20  103 24
5. Present work Rectangular duct with thin wires on three sides 10–40 0.01126–0.0279 3–20  103 23
The bold indicates the present case for the new optimal value of roughness Reynolds number = 23.

the values of eþ opt , for the present case is lower those of one
0.10 (1) Re=3000

side roughened solar air heater of Prasad and Saini (1991), 0.09 (2) Re=3000

for all values of flow Reynolds number. 0.08

Fig. 8 shows the optimal range of the values of relative 0.07
roughness height, (e/D)opt for 10 6 p/e 6 40, at varying val- 0.06
+
e =24 (Prasad and Saini,1991)- 1,3,5
ues of flow Reynolds number from 3000 to 20,000, for the (e/D) opt 0.05
+
e =23 (Present case)- 2,4,6
present case and that of Prasad and Saini (1991), which
0.04
shows that the range of optimal values of (e/D)opt, for (3) Re=10000
0.03
the present is below that of Prasad and Saini (1991), and (4) Re=10000

decreases with increasing values of flow Reynolds number. 0.02 (5) Re=20000
(6) Re=20000
Table 3 shows the values of flow Reynolds number 0.01
worked out from equation eþ opt ¼ 23, for varying values of
10 15 20 25 30 35 40

e/D at a given value of relative roughness pitch, p/e, equal p/e

to 10, for the present case and that of Prasad and Saini Fig. 7. Optimal thermohydraulic performance curves.
(1991), from equation eþ opt ¼ 24. It could be seen that for
the same values of p/e and e/D, lower values of flow Rey-
nolds number for the present case, correspond to the opti-
mal thermo hydraulic performance. Lower value of flow 0.10 1 (e / D ) opt for 10 ≤ p / e ≤ 40
Reynolds number yields in higher grade energy collection,
2
since mass flow rate involved will be less. For comparison,
0.08
the present optimal thermo hydraulic performance Eq. (18) 1
is written under together with the optimal thermo 2 (e/D) opt Range for e+ =24 (Prasad and Saini,1991) [1-1-1-1]
hydraulic performance equation of Prasad and Saini 0.06
(e/D)opt Range for e+ =23 (Present case) [2-2-2-2]
(1991), as Eq. (19):
e/D
rffiffiffiffiffi 0.04

þ f r
eopt ¼ e=D Re ¼ 23 ð18Þ
2 0.02
rffiffiffi 1
2

þ f 2
1

eopt ¼ e=D Re ¼ 24 ðPrasad and Saini; 1991Þ ð19Þ 0.00

2 0 Re 2 Re1 5000 10000 15000 20000

Now, it can be attributed that smaller value of for eþ

opt ,
Re

the present case, will lead to smaller value of flow rough- Fig. 8. Optimal range of e/D.
ness Reynolds number to result in higher grade energy col-
lection. Therefore, it could be concluded from the present
analysis that three sides roughened solar air heaters are
quantitatively even better than those of one side roughened Table 3
Values of Re at varying values of e/D and p/e = 10, for the optimal
solar air heaters of Prasad and Saini (1991), w.r.t. optimal condition.
thermo hydraulic performance conditions.
e/D Re1 (e+ = 24), Prasad and Saini (1991) Re2 (e+ = 23), present case
From Fig. 8, it can be concluded that the range of the
values of the parameter, (e/D)opt, at lower values of flow 0.01 24413.65 18901.10
0.02 12206.83 9450.553
Reynolds number is larger than those at higher values of 0.03 8137.885 6300.369
flow Reynolds number, providing more options for select- 0.04 6103.413 4725.277
ing the values of (e/D)opt at lower values of flow Reynolds 0.05 4882.731 3780.221
number. The optimal range of (e/D)opt (Prasad and Saini, 0.06 4068.942 3150.184
1991), represented above that of the present case, in 0.07 3487.665 2700.158
0.08 3051.707 2362.638
this figure, would attribute that for the same values of
 B.N. Prasad et al. / Solar Energy 111 (2015) 313–319 319

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