CONVECTIVE COOLING OF A HEATED OBSTACLE IN A CHANNEL

A detailed investigation of the forced convective cooling of a heated obstacle mounted upon a channel wall is presented. The Navier-Stokes e quations are used to characterize the flow field surrounding the condu ctive obstacle. Special emphasis is given in the systematic analysis t o detail the local Nusselt number distributions and mean Nusselt numbe rs for the individual exposed obstacle faces. The study employs parame tric variations in the obstacle height and width, as well as the therm al conductivity ratio k(solid)/k(fluid), flow rate (Re-Dh), and heatin g method, to detail important fundamental and practical results. Compa rison with an analytical solution for thermally developing flow in a c hannel shows reasonable estimates to Nusselt numbers can be made by ch oosing an appropriate length scale. It is shown that specific choices in obstacle size, shape and thermal conductivity can produce significa nt effects on the flow and heat transfer characteristics. (C) 1998 Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.