Numerical investigation of incompressible flow in grooved channels. Part 2. Resonance and oscillatory heat-transfer enhancement

Abstract

Modulatory heat-transfer enhancement in grooved channels is investigated by direct numerical simulation of the Navier–Stokes and energy equations using the spectral element method. It is shown that oscillatory perturbation of the flow at the frequency of the least-stable mode of the linearized system results in subcritical resonant excitation and associated transport enhancement as the critical Reynolds number of the flow is approached. The Tollmien–Schlichting frequency theory that was presented in Part 1 of this paper is shown to accurately predict the optimal frequency for transport augmentation for small values of the modulatory amplitude, and the effect of the excited travelling-wave channel modes on the resulting temperature distribution is described. The importance of (non-trivial) geometry in the forced response of a flow is discussed, and grooved-channel flow is compared to (straight-channel) plane Poiseuille flow, for which no resonance excitation occurs owing to a zero projection of the forcing inhomogeneity on the dangerous modes of the system. For the particular grooved-channel geometry investigated, resonant oscillatory forcing at modulatory amplitudes as small as 20% of the mean flow results in a doubling of transport as measured by a time, space-averaged Nusselt number.