Numerical Simulation of Laminar Channel Flow over Dimpled Surface

Abstract

A parallel multiblock multigrid incompressible unsteady flow solver has been developed based on a fully implicit fractional step method. Using this solver, the channel flow over a single dimple is investigated. ‘Horse-shoe’ vortex has been found inside this dimple. Computational results agree very well with Isaev et al. 1 although a dimple with slightly different edge profile and depth is used in current study. Furthermore, the effects of flow and dimple parameters on this 3D flow structures are also studied. Besides, one case of channel flow over heated multiple-dimple surface is also performed. Our preliminary results roughly show the vortex pairs shedding from dimple central portion and side-edges which have been identified in Ligrani et al. 2 ’s experimental work. Computational results obtained from this research may provide some ideas for optimizing the dimple parameters to enhance the surface heat transfer rate.