Effect of the angle of attack of a rectangular vortex generator on the heat transfer in a parallel plate flow

In order to enhance the convective heat transfer, a secondary flow can be generated along with the main flow whose purpose is to increase the mixing of the particles between the cold and the hot regions. One of these passive enhancement methods is to use vortex generators (VG). This study is devoted to the heat transfer enhancement in a laminar parallel plate flow using rectangular wing VG. Three-dimensional numerical simulations are performed to study the effect of the angle of attack of the VG on the heat transfer and pressure drop. For this aim, Nusselt number and friction factor are studied on global perspectives. For all the values of angle of attacks the flow regime is kept laminar. Based on global parameters, it is found that the angle of attack has a direct impact on the heat transfer enhancement. By increasing this value, the global Nusselt number and the global friction factor are increased. This increase leads to a better enhancement until it reaches an optimal value for an angle of attack of 25°, beyond which the thermal performance starts to decrease.