TY - JOUR TI - Turbulence and pressure drop behaviors around semicircular ribs in a rectangular channel AU - Nine Md J AU - Lee Gyeonghwan AU - Chung Hanshik AU - Ji Myoungkuk AU - Jeong Hyomin JN - Thermal Science PY - 2014 VL - 18 IS - 2 SP - 419 EP - 430 PT - Article AB - The article represents an experimental investigation on friction and turbulent flow characteristics of free airflow through a rectangular duct fitted with semicircular ribs of uniform height (e = 3.5 mm) on one principle wall. The aspect ratio of the rectangular duct was AR= 5 where the duct height (H) was 30 mm. Four different rib pitches (P) of 28 mm, 35 mm, 42 mm and 49 mm were examined with constant rib height to hydraulic diameter ratio (e/Dh = 0.07) and constant rib height to channel height ratio (e/H = 0.116). The experimental results show some significant effects of pressure drop as well as turbulent characteristics at various configurations among different numbers of rib arrangements varying Reynolds number in the range of 15000 to 30000. Experimental results have been compared with numerical analysis and it can be seen a good agreement. The result explains the phenomena elaborately between two periodic ribs and enables to optimize the rib pitch ratio in terms of turbulence kinetic energy for maximum heat transfer. [This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (No. 2012-0004544)]