Pressure drop and thermal performance in rotating two-pass ducts with various cross rib arrangements

The present study investigates the pressure drop characteristics of rotating two-pass ducts. The duct has an aspect ratio (W/H) of 0.5 and a hydraulic diameter (D-h) of 26.67 mm. Rib turbulators are attached in the four different cross arrangements on the leading and trailing surfaces of the test ducts. The ribs have a rectangular cross section of 2 turn (e) x 3 mm (w) and a rib angle-of-attack of 70 degrees. The pitch-to-rib-height ratio (p/e) is 7.5 and the rib-height-to-hydraulic-diameter ratio (e/D-h) is 0.075. The measured results for each region show that the highest pressure drop appears in the turning region in the stationary case, but appears in the upstream region of the second pass in the rotating case. The heat transfer and the pressure coefficients in the first pass are similar for the stationary and rotating cases in all the tested rib arrangements. After the turning region, however, the heat transfer and pressure drop are high in the cases with the cross NN- and PP-type ribs in the stationary ducts. In the rotating ducts, they are high in the cases with the cross NP- and PP-type ribs.