FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF SUPERCRITICAL HYDROCARBON FUEL IN A RIBBED TUBE

In a typical turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine, the issue of high thermal load on hot-section components and combustion chamber walls is particularly severe. The heat transfer efficiency of fluids can be effectively improved through enhanced heat transfer techniques within tubes. This paper investigated the flow and heat transfer characteristics of supercritical RP-3 aviation kerosene as a heat sink in a corrugated tube channel by numerical simulation, aiming to explore the underlying mechanisms of flow and heat transfer within the corrugated tube. This study analyzed effects of different structural parameters and inlet Reynolds numbers on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of RP-3 aviation kerosene under supercritical pressure. The results indicate that due to the geometric characteristics of the corrugated tube, the flow field of the aviation kerosene is significantly disturbed during its passage through the tube, generating longitudinal vortices. This effectively disrupts the boundary layer, leading to a substantial increase in the Nusselt number compared to that in a smooth tube, with an enhancement of up to 10% at a rib height ratio of 20. As the inlet Reynolds number and heat flux density increase, the growth rate in the Nusselt number exceeds that of the friction factor, thereby improving the overall heat transfer performance.