CFD Analysis of Solar Air Heater by Using Combination of Triangular and Pentagon Ribs on the Absorber

Solar air heater are used to heat up the air and supply it to the place which is to be kept hot. In present work, a 3-dimensional CFD analysis has been carried out to study heat transfer and fluid flow behavior in a rectangular duct of a solar air heater with one roughened wall having combination of circular and square transverse wire rib roughness. The effect of Reynolds number, roughness height, roughness pitch, relative roughness pitch and relative roughness height on the heat transfer coefficient and friction factor have been studied. The main objectives of this work is to investigate the effect of flow and roughness parameters on average heat transfer and flow friction characteristics of an artificially roughened solar air heater having the combination of triangular and pentagon ribs on the absorber plate, to find out optimal configuration of triangular and pentagon sectioned transverse rib for heat transfer enhancement. And investigate the effect of roughness parameters on various thermal properties of SAH like Reynolds number, Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient and friction factor in flow and compare the result with smooth plate.