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q Institution of Chemical Engineers
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998

VORTICES, GENERATORS AND HEAT TRANSFER

M. FIEBIG
Institut fuÈr Thermo- and Fluid-Dynamics, Ruhr-UniversitaÈt, Bochum, Germany

L
ongitudinal vortices are more ef® cient for heat transfer enhancement than transverse
vortices. A survey is given on triangular and rectangular protrusions from a heat transfer
surface which generate mainly longitudinal vortex systems. Wings and winglets are
considered in boundary layer and channel ¯ ow, either by themselves, or in a single row
transverse to the ¯ ow direction, or in a two dimensional array. Local and global heat transfer
are studied as a function of the major parameters. For channel ¯ ows also the pressure losses are
given. Winglets are superior to wings, but winglet form is of minor importance. In laminar
¯ ow, heat transfer enhancement increases with Reynolds number. Heat transfer enhancement
increases for constant winglet aspect ratio with angle of attack up to a maximum angle of
attack. But it increases also up to limiting values with winglet height relative to transverse and
streamwise winglet spacing and relative to channel height or boundary layer thickness. The
nonlinear character of ¯ uid mechanics does not allow simple predictions.
Keywords: heat transfer enhancement; vortex generators; vortices

INTRODUCTION vortex exists, the common understanding is that a vortex is

For economic and ecological reasons, ef® cient convective
heat transfer is important in many industries where gas to
gas and gas to liquid heat transfer is involved. For
convective heat transfer intensi® cation three mechanisms
may be distinguished,
(1) developing boundary layers,
(2) swirl or vortices and
(3) ¯ ow destabilization or turbulence intensi® cation.
All three mechanisms may be caused by vortex generators.
The vortex generators considered here are protrusions from a
heat transfer surface which are designed to generate vortices.
In the following section information is presented on vortex
generators and their vortices. Transverse and longitudinal
vortices may be distinguished. Transverse vortices and their
generators in¯ uence heat transfer mainly by ¯ ow destabiliza-
tion which leads to self-excited ¯ uctuating transverse
vortices. Longitudinal vortices and their generation may
involve all three heat transfer mechanisms. In addition,
longitudinal vortices last over long distances in the ¯ ow
direction and diffuse only slowly in high Reynolds number
¯ ows. Therefore vortex generators which generate mainly
longitudinal vortices are especially suited for heat transfer
applications. This was realized already in the early papers
which investigated the in¯ uence of vortex generators on heat
transfer, Johnson and Joubert1 , Edwards and Alker2 and
Russell et al.3 . The in¯ uence of the vortex system on heat
transfer and ¯ ow losses will depend on the vortex generators
and the reference ¯ ow without vortex generators. Laminar
and turbulent ¯ at plate boundary layers and channel ¯ ows are
the reference ¯ ows which are discussed with regard to their
interaction with vortex generators. Some concluding remarks
summarize the state of the art.
VORTICES AND THEIR GENERATORS
Even though no agreed mathematical de® nition for a
108
swirling motion around an axis, Treffethen and Panton4 ,
Jeong and Hussain5 . Principally, transverse vortices and
longitudinal vortices may be distinguished. Transverse
vortices have their axes transverse or perpendicular to the
¯ ow direction and are consistent with two-dimensional
¯ ow. Longitudinal vortices have their axes in the stream-
wise or ¯ ow direction and always imply three-dimensional
¯ ow. Vortices have to be generated. Here only arti® cial
generation by vortex generators in the form of triangular or
rectangular shaped blades (wings or half wings) will be
considered.
Transverse Vortex Systems
The Karman vortex street in the wake of a circular
cylinder in cross ¯ ow is perhaps the most thoroughly
investigated transverse vortex system, Figure 1. For
Reynolds numbers, based on the cylinder diameter and the
free stream velocity, between 5 and 47 the two-dimensional
¯ ow separates close to plus and minus 908 from the
stagnation point and forms two transverse vortices with a
closed recirculation region, Noack and Eckelmann7 . For
higher Reynolds numbers, the interaction of the two
separated shear layers leads to oscillations and the formation
of the Karman vortex street in Figure 1. Up to Reynolds
numbers of 170, the vortex axes and the vorticity vector are
aligned pointing out of the ® gure. When the Reynolds
number is further increased, three-dimensional instabilities
are ampli® ed and the wake becomes three-dimensional.
Secondary vortices develop which are no longer pure
transverse vortices7 . More and more frequencies are
generated and ampli® ed and the wake is well on its way
to turbulence. For heat transfer, internal ¯ ows are of major
technical importance. Here Karman vortex streets with
transverse vortices are generated, for example, by ribs in
channels. For the ribbed channel geometry shown in Figure
2, transverse vortices are generated at the ribs and also
 VORTICES, GENERATORS AND HEAT TRANSFER
Figure 1. Karman vortex street behind a circular cylinder in cross ¯ ow at
Red = 140. Photograph by Sadotoshi Taneda from van Dyke6.
induced on the plane or smooth wall. The ¯ ow becomes
unsteady for this con® guration at a Reynolds number, based
on a mean velocity and rib height larger than 46, while for
plane channel ¯ ow the transition Reynolds number is more
than an order of magnitude higher, Grosse-Gorgemann et al.8 .
These unsteady transverse vortices enhance heat transfer by
means of `Reynolds’ averaged transport. For stationary
transverse vortices, no substantial increase in global heat
transfer has been reported. Compared to a fully developed
laminar channel ¯ ow, stationary transverse vortices trans-
port additional thermal energy convectively from the wall to
the core of the ¯ uid and also from the core to the wall. But
no additional mechanism is generated by stationary
transverse vortices to transport thermal energy downstream.
Two-dimensional self-oscillating periodic channel ¯ ows
with transverse vortices have been investigated during the
last 10 years. Ghaddar et al.9 ,1 0 and Amon and Mikic1 1
investigated numerically grooved channel ¯ ow where the
grooves were so short that the separated ¯ ow attached not at
the ground of the groove but at the face of the next
protrusion. Hermann and Mayinger1 2 and Hermann et al.1 3
made experimental investigations for similar geometries.
They found a Reynolds number for the onset of oscillations
which was considerably lower than the transition Reynolds
number of the corresponding plane channel ¯ ow. Enhanced
heat transfer occurred only when the ¯ ow was unsteady. The
heat transfer was further increased when the ¯ ow was in
resonance with forced pulsations, Greiner et al.1 4 . Fiebig
et al.1 5 and Gross Gorgemann et al.8 investigated grooved
and ribbed channel ¯ ow experimentally and numerically.
Again substantial heat transfer enhancement occurred only
when the ¯ ow was self-¯ uctuating. The critical Reynolds
number for ribbed channel ¯ ow was considerably lower
than for grooved channel ¯ ow. In summary, local heat
transfer can be modi® ed to a large extent, but global heat
transfer is enhanced only when ¯ ow destabilization due to
the modi® ed velocity pro® les leads to large amplitude self-
sustained oscillations or turbulence intensi® cation.
Figure 2. Karman vortex street behind periodic ribs in a channel,
Reh = 87.5, from Grosse-Gorgemann et al.8 Lp / h = 10, h/ H = 0.5,
d / h = 0.1.
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998
109
Figure 3. (a) Trailing vortices and their tendency to intercoil, from
Lanchester 16. (b) Equivalent of circulation of bound and trailing vortices,
from Lanchester 17.
Longitudinal Vortex Systems
In contrast to transverse vortices, longitudinal vortices
spiral the ¯ ow around their axes in the streamwise direction.
The trailing vortices behind the wingtips of wings, and the
leading edge vortices of delta wings are classical long-
itudinal vortices. They have been studied intensively in
aerodynamics for nearly 100 years. It was Lanchester1 6
who showed in 1907 that wingtip vortices have the tendency
to intercoil, Figure 3a. In 1915 he expressed1 7 that the
bound circulation of the wing equals the circulation of the
trailing vortices, Figure 3b. This is also a consequence of
Helmholtz’ 1 8 famous vortex theorems for inviscid ¯ ow
from 1858. They state that vorticity cannot diffuse in the
¯ ow and it can be generated only at solid surfaces.
Therefore, longitudinal vortices may last for many vortex
generator lengths downstream. The leading edge vortices of
delta wings at moderate angles of attack are generated by
separation along their leading edges which result in
detached shear layers which are unstable and roll up to
longitudinal vortices, Figure 4. The induced circumferential
and streamwise velocities of these longitudinal vortices are
of the same magnitude as the free-stream velocity, Delery
et al.1 9 .
The intense and long lasting swirl prompted the use of
longitudinal vortex generators in the form of half wings
(winglets) and related geometries for boundary layer
control. The idea was to delay boundary layer separation
by mixing high momentum ¯ uid from outside into the
boundary layer. The method is so effective that longitudinal
vortex generators in the form of winglets can be seen on the
wings of most large commercial airplanes. Schubauer and
Spangenberg2 0 , Pearcey 2 1 , and Sedney2 2 have written
surveys on the subject.
For heat transfer applications the periodic arrangement of
longitudinal vortex generators are of interest. Figure 5
shows a two dimensional array of longitudinal vortex
generators in the form of slender rectangular plates which
Figure 4. Longitudinal vortices above a delta wing with 308 apex angle at
208 angle of attack and Re = 20,000. (a) Lines of coloured ¯ uid in water
show the symmetrical pair of vortices. (b) Tiny air bubbles in water show
the cross ¯ ow of the vortex pair. Photograph by Werle, from van Dyke6.
110
Figure 5. Channel with array of rectangular winglets at an angle of attack b
to the main stream; wing type vortex generators (WVGs); and schematic of
longitudinal vortices (LVs); e/ H = 0.5, Lp / e = 10, Bp / e = 8, 1/ e = 4,
d / e = 0.1, s/ e = (1 - sin b ).1/ (2.e), b = 458 .
are attached with their chords to one channel wall. All three
heat transfer enhancement mechanisms are generated.
Developing boundary layers occur again and again on the
rectangular plates. Longitudinal vortices develop along the
side edges of the plates. Their direction of rotation is from
higher to lower pressures. Because of the alternating angles
of attack of the plates, pairs of counter-rotating vortices are
generated. These longitudinal vortices lead to additional
convective thermal transport. This is shown in more detail in
Figure 6 for a system of counter-rotating longitudinal
vortices which induce a sinusoidal variation in the
temperature and vertical velocity component and lead to
additional thermal transport to the wall. In the plane zo
shown in Figure 6c, the convective thermal transport to the
wall is the same in the up-wash (common-¯ ow-up) and
down-wash (common-¯ ow-down) regions. However, in the
down-wash area the streamwise velocity component will be
accelerated and the downstream transport of thermal energy
will be enhanced, the opposite will be the case in the up-
wash regions. The vortices will also lead to streamwise
velocity pro® les with in¯ ection points which implies a
destabilization of the ¯ ow. This initiates transition to
turbulence at smaller Reynolds numbers for laminar ¯ ow
and higher turbulence intensities in the viscous sublayer of
turbulent ¯ ows.
Besides the main longitudinal vortices shown in Figure 5,
a horseshoe vortex or corner vortex develops in the
stagnation region of the vortex generator. It wraps around
the vortex generator along the corner between the vortex
generator and the plate. In addition, a Karman vortex street
may develop at the trailing edge of the vortex generator. At
the leading edge, separation may also lead to development
of a transverse vortex. The details of the vortex system will
be strongly in¯ uenced by the geometry and Reynolds
number. The vortices and ¯ uctuations in turn in¯ uence the
heat transfer on the vortex generators and walls. The highly
nonlinear nature of the Navier-Stokes equations which
govern the ¯ ow ® eld implies that different effects do
not superimpose linearly. Highly nonlinear interactions
exist between the different parameters which determine the
heat transfer and ¯ ow losses. A systematic variation of
these parameters is necessary to arrive at favourable
FIEBIG
Figure 6. Longitudinal vortices (spanwise ¯ uctuations).
con® gurations. When the Prandtl number is ® xed by the
heat transfer ¯ uid, for example Pr = 0.71 for air, the ¯ ow
without vortex generators has to be speci® ed by its
geometry, for example ¯ at plate, channel or ® n-tube
element, and Reynolds number. Then ® nally, the vortex
generator has to be speci® ed by its form, for example
rectangular, triangular, rhombic etc., its length, height,
thickness, angle of attack, and position on the reference
surface. It is hard to guess which of these parameters will be
of primary importance. Certainly the reference ¯ ow, the
vortex generator form and angle of attack, and the
positioning of the vortex generators to each other on the
reference geometry will be of major in¯ uence.
EARLY INVESTIGATIONS
To my knowledge the ® rst results on the in¯ uence of
longitudinal vortex generators on heat transfer were
reported by Johnson and Joubert1 in 1969. They investigated
the in¯ uence of a row of triangular winglets on the drag and
heat transfer of a circular cylinder normal to an air stream.
The 308 delta winglets were punched out of a strip which
was attached to the cylinder with adhesive tape. They found
that the cylinder drag was reduced due to the separation
delay caused by the longitudinal vortices and that heat
transfer was somewhat increased.
Edwards and Alker2 reported local heat transfer results
for a row of co-rotating and counter-rotating vortices
generated by a row of 308 delta winglets attached to one
channel wall. For the generation of co-rotating vortices the
winglets had all the same angle of attack, while for the
counter-rotating vortices the angle of attack alternated for
successive winglets. For the `co-rotating’ vortex generators,
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998
 VORTICES, GENERATORS AND HEAT TRANSFER 111

two angles of attack, 12.58 and 258 , and two lateral pitches
of 3 and 4 times the winglet height were investigated. The
counter-rotating vortex generators had alternating angles of
attack of 158 , the lateral pitch was 3 and 5 times the winglet
height, and the pitch between two winglets forming one pair
was 1.25 times the winglet height. The Reynolds number
based on the winglet height was 61,500, the winglet height
was 0.2 the channel height, and the ¯ ow was fully
developed. For uniform heat ¯ ux to one wall, the local
heat transfer coef® cient was determined by measuring the
local surface temperature; the local air temperature was
calculated. Spot temperature readings were made using a
luminescent phosphor technique. The accuracy of the
enhancement ratio of the heat transfer coef® cient was
given as better than 7.6%. The span average enhancement of
the heat transfer coef® cient for the `co-rotating’ vortex
generators was best for the higher angle of attack (258 ) but
never exceeded 15%. This maximum enhancement was
reached about 20 winglet heights downstream of the vortex
generators and stayed at that level to the end of the
measuring zone at 27 winglet heights. For the `counter-
rotating’ vortex generators, the maximum local enhance-
ment (40%) was reached already about 10 winglet heights
downstream of the winglets and decreased to 30% at 27
winglet heights downstream. It was higher for the con® g-
uration with the smaller pitch. But the enhancement of the
heat transfer coef® cient for the `counter-rotating’ con® g-
uration was always more than twice that of the `co-rotating’
con® guration. It was concluded that longitudinal vortices
are long-lived and that delta winglet con® gurations
generating counter-rotating vortices are more effective for Figure 7. (a) Disposition of vortex generators. Angle of attack 208 , (b)
heat transfer enhancement than delta winglet con® gurations photograph of tube tested, (c) photograph of tube with vortex generators,
from Russel et al.3.
generating co-rotating vortices. No pressure loss data were
reported.
Heat transfer and pressure loss data were ® rst measured transfer surface is shown in Figure 8a. The heat transfer area
by Russell et al.3 for a special ® n-tube geometry with started 200 mm behind the leading edge of the plate directly
longitudinal vortex generators in the form of very slender behind the trailing edges of the vortex generators where the
rectangular winglets. Without giving details they state that boundary layer thickness was 4.8 mm. They investigated
triangular con® gurations and small angles of attack gave single winglets at different angles of attack, winglet pairs,
disappointing performances in preliminary investigations. and rows of up to 6 `co-rotating’ winglets and 4 pairs of
Therefore, they investigated mainly punched and embossed `counter rotating’ winglets, Figure 8b, and they varied also
rectangular winglet con® gurations. Their best disposition of the form, as shown in Figure 8c. Torii and Yanagihara
vortex generators is shown in Figure 7. They used a started their investigations with single winglets2 3 ,2 4 . Far
staggered arrangement with the angle of attack alternating from the winglet and at small angles of attack, Torrii and
to generate counter-rotating vortices and boosted the Yanagihara2 3 suggested that the main reason for the heat
vortices further downstream with a second double row. transfer enhancement was connected with the high velocity
They reported ratios of Colburn `j’ factors to apparent ¯ uctuations, indicating the transition from laminar to
friction factors `f’ exceeding 0.5 in the Reynolds number turbulent ¯ ow. Close to the winglet, the main heat transfer
range between 500 and 2000. The exact geometry and enhancement seemed to be due to vortical motion. They
accuracy of the measurements were not given in3 . identi® ed, besides the main longitudinal vortex from the
leading edge of the winglet, a horseshoe type corner vortex
at the junction of the high pressure side of the winglet with
HEAT TRANSFER BY VORTEX GENERATORS IN the plate and a much weaker induced vortex on the low
BOUNDARY LAYERS pressure side near the junction of winglet and plate, Figure
9. As expected, both an increase in height from 6 to 25 mm
Laminar Boundary Layers and an increase in angle of attack from 58 to 258 increased
Torii and coworkers made extensive investigations of the heat transfer coef® cient. Comparing the winglet forms
triangular winglet con® gurations with a height to length of Figure 8c, it was found that the frontal area is the
ratio of 15 to 40 (228 ). They measured the streamwise dominating effect with regard to heat transfer. Winglet
velocities, and ¯ uctuations with a single hot wire anem- pairs and rows were studied also by Yanagihara and
ometer and determined the heat transfer coef® cient for Torii2 5 ± 2 8 . For common-¯ ow-down-winglet pairs, they
constant heat ¯ ux from thermocouple measurements which found higher heat transfer enhancement than for common-
were arranged in ® ve rows. A schematic view of the heat ¯ ow-up pairs. Variations of the distance between the

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998

112
winglets of one pair showed that the highest heat transfer
was achieved when the winglet tips touched each other in
the common-¯ ow-down con® guration.
Results for the single winglet pair and for the `co-
rotating’ and `counter-rotating’ delta winglet rows are
shown in Figure 10. In different cross sections behind the
winglets, the Stanton number enhancement, mean velocity
contours and turbulent intensity contours are presented. The
angle of attack was 158 and the winglet height was 15 mm.
For the `counter-rotating’ vortex generator row, the winglet
tip distance was zero and the distance between winglet pairs
Figure 8. (a) Schematic view of the heat transfer surface, Yanagihara and
Torii28, (b) Sketch of the row of vortex generators, Yanagihare and Torii28,
(c) Geometries of the vortex generators, Torii and Yanagihara23.
FIEBIG
was 50 mm, while the distance between `co-rotating’
winglets was 30 mm. So the spacing of the `co-rotating
winglets was 20% further apart than the `counter-rotating
winglets. For identical Stanton number enhancement this
would imply 20% more enhancement for the `co-rotating
winglets. In areas of common-¯ ow-down the Stanton
number enhancement is higher and the turbulence intensity
lower than in areas of common-¯ ow-up, Figure 10a. In
Figure 10c, 27 winglet heights behind the winglet row the
heat transfer enhancement distribution is nearly constant
over the span. The Stanton number enhancement is higher
for the `counter-rotating’ than for the `co-rotating’ con® g-
uration 100 mm downstream of the winglets. It should be
noted that Stanton number enhancement occurs everywhere
in the downwash and upwash areas. Comparison of the
span-averaged results for angle of attack of 158 and 458 for
the `co-rotating’ and `counter-rotating’ vortex generator
rows shows that only for a short distance behind the
winglets the `counter-rotating’ rows give higher Stanton
numbers than the corresponding `co-rotating’ rows, further
downstream the differences between `counter- and co-
rotating’ rows are minute, Figure 11. This is in contrast
to the earlier results of Edwards and Alker2 who found
that `co-rotating’ delta winglets gave less than half the
Stanton number enhancement than `counter-rotating’ delta
winglets. It is also in contrast with Russell et al.’ s3
statement, that `triangular con® gurations gave a disappoint-
ing performance in preliminary investigations’. The differ-
ences due to angle of attack remained always signi® cant,
Figure 11. Compared to the laminar reference ¯ ow, the
Stanton number stayed considerably higher for all distances
downstream of the vortex generators.
The importance of both the vortical motion and the
velocity ¯ uctuations generated by the vortex generators for
heat transfer enhancement has become very clear through
these experiments. No signi® cant differences in heat
transfer enhancement could be found between `co-rotating’
and `counter-rotating’ delta winglet rows. Heat transfer
enhancement increased with angle of attack and frontal area.
For `counter-rotating’ delta winglet rows, minimal spacing
between winglets of one pair gave the highest enhancement.
Vortex generator form, height, length, angle of attack and
spacing have not been varied to an extent which points
towards optimum values for these parameters.
For the same thermal boundary conditions Turk and
Junkhan2 9 investigated a row of `counter-rotating’ rectan-
gular winglet pairs with angles of attack of 208 , length
Figure 9. Sketch of the vortex system generated by a half-delta wing,
Yanagihara and Torii28.
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998
 VORTICES, GENERATORS AND HEAT TRANSFER 113

Figure 10. Heat transfer results, mean velocity and turbulence intensity contours, (a) for a winglet pair with common ¯ ow down (e = 15 mm, b = 158 ,
s = 30 mm) at x = 0.1 m, Yanagihara and Torii28. (b) Heat transfer results and velocity contours for a counter-rotating row (e = 15 mm, b = 158 , s = 22 mm
and Bp = 50 mm) at x = 0.1 m, Yanagihara and Torii28. (c) Heat transfer results and velocity contours for a counter-rotating row (e = 15 mm, b = 158 ,
s = 22 mm and Bp = 50 mm) at x = 0.4 m, Yanagihara and Torii28. (d) Heat transfer results and velocity contours for a co-rotating row (e = 15 mm, b = 158 ,
s = 30 mm) at x = 0.1 m, Yanagihara and Torii28.

27 mm, thickness 1.5 mm and varying height of 1.6, 3.2 and
6.4 mm, and an initial boundary layer thickness of 1.8 mm.
The centre to centre spacing between blade pairs was twice
the upstream spacing between the blades of a pair. Four
blade spacings of 19.1, 25.4, 50.8, and 102 mm were used.
The main ¯ ow had three different small velocity gradients
of 0.41, 0.64, and 0.86 1 s- 1 , respectively. The span-
averaged heat transfer enhancement decreased a little
immediately behind the winglets and then increased
continuously further downstream, with distance from the

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998

114
Figure 11. Streamwise distribution of span-averaged Stanton-number for
counter-rotating and co-rotating rows (parameter: angle of attack b (8 ); from
Yanagihara and Torii28.
vortex generators, Figure 12. This implies that the heat
transfer of the undisturbed ¯ at plate decreases faster than the
disturbances generated by the vortex generators. This shows
the low diffusion of vorticity in high Reynolds number
¯ ows. It also indicates that the unstable velocity pro® les
which are responsible for the velocity ¯ uctuations and their
ampli® cation also persist. The heat transfer enhancement
increased with velocity gradient, blade height to blade
spacing, and blade height to initial boundary layer thickness.
This is in agreement with the delta winglet results by Torii
and coworkers.
Turbulent Boundary Layers
Eaton and coworkers at Stanford University, Eibeck and
Eaton3 0 ± 3 2 , Pauley and Eaton3 3 ± 3 5 , and Wroblewski and
Eibeck3 6 , and Subramanian et al.3 7 investigated delta
winglets in a turbulent boundary layer. The delta winglet
height to length was 20 to 50 which is nearly identical with
the 15 to 40 ratio used by Torii and coworkers. The
experimental setup used in references (31) to (35) is shown
in Figure 13. The difference to Subramanian et al. was that
the unheated length behind the vortex generators was about
20 cm while it was 55 cm in Subramanian’ s experiments. As
in laminar boundary layers single winglets, winglet pairs,
and winglet rows were investigated. Angle of attack (68 to
248 ), height (10 to 30 mm), and spacing of the midpoints of
vortex generator pairs (20 to 140 mm) were varied.
The persistence of the longitudinal vortices for all
con® gurations was also established for turbulent boundary
layers. The heat transfer was highest where the highest
down-wash velocities occurred and minimal where the up-
wash velocities were the highest. The maximum Stanton
number enhancement was about 20% while the highest
Figure 12. Enhancement of local span-averaged heat transfer coef® cient for
dU0 / dx = 0.64 s- 1 and e = 1.6 mm; from Turk and Junkhan29.
FIEBIG
Stanton number defect was about 10%. The minimum on the
centre line between the vortices depended on the spacing.
With increasing angle of attack, the heat transfer distribu-
tions became wider, but the values of maximum and
minimum heat transfer were not much affected.
For the `counter-rotating’ rows of vortex generators the
results of reference (35) are shown in Figure 14, the vortex
generators were spaced 10 cm (® ve generator heights) apart
with an angle of attack of 188 . Three pairs were used with
the six generators placed symmetrical to the symmetry line.
The vorticity and heat transfer distribution looks similar to
the vortex pair with common ¯ ow up with a dip on the
centre line below the ¯ at plate value without vortex
generators. For smaller spacings between the 1.3 and 2.1
winglet heights investigated by Subramanian et al.3 7 , this
dip below the ¯ at plate boundary value was not found. Their
results also indicated that the Stanton number enhancement
increases with distance from the vortex generator row. The
average heat transfer augmentation over the measurement
region was roughly 10%.
To generate co-rotating vortices, six generators were
placed symmetrically around the symmetry line 3 winglet
heights (6 cm) apart. The other dimensions are the same as
for the counter-rotating row. The results are again from
reference 35 and are given for the streamwise development
of the vorticity contours and the outer axial velocity contour
in Figure 15a. The vortices move laterally across the tunnel
due to the combined effects of all the image vortices. The
heat transfer distribution shown in Figure 15b indicates a
heat transfer performance similar in character to that seen
for a single vortex. The generators were far enough apart to
avoid merging. The heat transfer varied between a 20%
augmentation in the strong down-wash region of a vortex to
negligible enhancement in the strong up-wash region of a
vortex. The average heat transfer augmentation over the
surface was 13%. Again the results are somewhat in contrast
to Edward and Alker’ s2 report.
Comparing the results for laminar and turbulent boundary
layers for the very similar delta vortex generators and
¯ at plate geometry of Yanagihara and Torii2 8 , Pauley and
Eaton3 5 , and Submaranian et al.3 7 one may conclude for the
investigated parameter range:
(1) Longitudinal vortices are extremely persistent in both
laminar and turbulent boundary layers.
(2) Heat transfer is strongly in¯ uenced by the interaction of
the vortices with themselves and the base ¯ ow.
Figure 13. The turbulent boundary layer test facility from Pawley and
Eaton35.
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998
 VORTICES, GENERATORS AND HEAT TRANSFER
Figure 14. (a) Alternating row with e = 2 cm, s = 10 cm, D = 10 cm, and
b = 188 ; axial velocity and vorticity contours at X = {66, 97, 142, 188} cm;
from Pauley and Eaton35. (b) Alternating row with e = 2 cm, s = 10 cm,
D = 10 cm, and b = 188 ; spans of Stanton-number at X = {97, 112, 127,
148, 157, 173, 188} cm; from Pauley and Eaton35.
(3) Heat transfer enhancement is due to (a) boundary layer
thinning mainly by the downward ¯ ow generated by the
vortices, and (b) generation of additional velocity ¯ uctuations.
(4) Heat transfer enhancement is higher in laminar boundary
layers than in turbulent boundary layers.
(5) Global heat transfer augmentation increases with angle
of attack (up to 458 ), vortex generator height relative to
boundary layer thickness and vortex generator height to
lateral pitch.
The in¯ uence of vortex generator form, aspect ratio, and
multiple vortex generator rows were not investigated. No
suggestions were made with regard to optimal height ratio,
angle of attack, and lateral pitch of the vortex generators. No
information is available on the corresponding ¯ ow losses.
HEAT TRANSFER BY VORTEX GENERATORS IN
CHANNEL FLOW
Channel ¯ ow is the basic ¯ ow for many internal ¯ ows,
especially for nearly all compact heat exchangers and many
internal cooling problems. A channel ¯ ow will be called
laminar when it is laminar at the location of the ® rst vortex
generators. Because the vortex generators may reduce the
critical Reynolds number of transition drastically, a channel
¯ ow with vortex generators may already be highly unsteady
or in a state of transition to turbulence at a Reynolds number
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998
115
Figure 15. (a) Axial velocity and vorticity contours for co-rotating array
with e = 2 cm, D = 6 cm, and b = 188 at X = {66, 97, 142, 188} cm; from
Pauley and Eaton35. (b) Spanwise pro® les of Stanton-number for co-
rotating array with e = 2 cm, D = 10 cm, and b = 188 at X = {97, 112,
127, 148, 157, 173, 188} cm; from Pauley and Eaton35.
of 350. A ¯ ow will be called in a state of transition or
transitional when large self-excited ¯ uctuations occur. Heat
transfer in laminar channel ¯ ow with vortex generators is
distinct from the corresponding ¯ at plate ¯ ow, at least with
regard to two aspects. First, channels have two walls and
when vortex generators are attached to one wall they
in¯ uence the heat transfer on both walls. Second, it has to be
distinguished whether the ¯ ow is fully developed or not. In
addition it is important to know as in boundary layer ¯ ow
where the heat transfer or thermal layer starts.
Numerical and experimental investigations of heat
transfer and ¯ ow losses of various vortex generator
con® gurations were performed by Fiebig and coworkers
at Ruhr-University Bochum. Surveys of the work done
at Bochum are contained in Fiebig3 8 ± 4 0 . Experimental
investigations of single delta and rectangular vortex
generators in developing channel ¯ ows were reported by
Fiebig et al.4 1 ,4 2 . Form, angle of attack, aspect ratio and
Reynolds number were varied. Single rows of delta wings
and delta winglets were investigatednumerically by Fiebig et
al.4 3 , Brockmeier et al.4 4 ,4 5 and Biswas et al.4 6 ,4 7 in
developing and fully developed channel ¯ ow. Angle of
attack, aspect ratio, spacing to channel height, span to
116 FIEBIG

channel height and Reynolds number were varied. Tiggel-

beck et al.4 8 compared single rows of delta and rectangular
wings and winglets experimentally in entrance ¯ ow.
GuÈntermann4 9 did the same numerically for fully developed
¯ ow. For higher Reynolds numbers a row of rectangular
winglets at 208 angle of attack generating counter-rotating
vortices was investigated by Oyakawa et al.5 0 for varying
winglet spacing in developing ¯ ow. Tiggelbeck et al. also
investigated two rows of delta winglets in entrance ¯ ow5 1 ,5 2 .
Numerical investigations of two dimensional rectangular
winglet arrays were performed numerically for fully devel-
oped periodic conditions by GuÈntermann4 9 , GuÈntermann et
al.5 3 , Fiebig et al.5 4 , and Grosse-Gorgemann5 5 . Similar
experimental investigations were carried out by Weber5 6 ,
Fiebig and Weber5 7 , and Neumann5 8 .
In the numerical work the full Navier Stokes equations,
continuity equation and the energy equation were solved for
constant property Newtonian ¯ uids with the Prandtl number
of air. Both developing and fully developed channel ¯ ows
were considered. The thermal boundary condition was
constant wall temperature. In the experimental investiga-
tions high resolution heat transfer measurements for
constant wall temperature were performed with the liquid
crystal thermography, LCT4 4 ,4 6 , and the ammonia absorp-
tion method, AAM 5 9 . The ammonia absorption method
allows determination of the mass transfer coef® cient and, by
analogy, the heat transfer coef® cient on a single channel
wall or both walls at the same time. The LCT allows the
determination of the local mean heat transfer coef® cient of
both sides of one wall. The ¯ ow losses were determined by
drag measurements in a vertical wind tunnel or by pressure Figure 16. (a) Test model with vortex generator; local heat transfer is
measurements. Only Oyakawa et al.5 0 used the constant measured only on the middle section of the central ® n; (b) Vortex generator
heat ¯ ux boundary condition and determined the heat geometry and notations of a pair of delta winglets, I and II are symmetry
planes; (c) elevation and plan view of different VGs; from Tiggelbeck
transfer coef® cient only for one wall. et al.48.
For practical applications, vortex generator rows and two
dimensional vortex generator arrays are the main interest plates. They formed channels with an aspect ratio of 15. The
and only results for such con® gurations will be given. measurements were performed on the plate in the middle of
For the experiments reported by Tiggelbeck et al.4 8 the test the three identical plates and only for the vortex generator in
model and vortex generator geometry is shown in Figure 16. the middle of this plate. The detailed geometry is given in
Four basic forms, all generating counter-rotating vortices, Table 1. Note that the delta winglets span the height of the
were compared, namely `counter-rotating’ delta and rec- channel and can be used as spacers in ® n-tube or ® n-plate
tangular winglet pairs, and delta and rectangular wings. In heat exchangers. The height of the rectangular winglets was
the experiments, one plate consisted of one row with 3 half the channel height. The tip of the delta wing touched the
winglet pairs or wings. The vortex generators were stamped other wall while the leading edge of the rectangular wing
out of the plate with the hole on the upstream or high was located at 65% of the channel height. To allow
pressure side. The test section consisted of three identical comparison of the different con® gurations, the following

Table 1. Test model geometry for vortex generator row; see also Fig. 16.

Channel:
Height H ± 20 [mm]
Breadth B (lateral pitch) 5H
Length L 15H
Fin Area AF 30 mm2
Vortex Generator: DW DWP RW RWP
Angle of attack b 308 308 308 308
Span b 2H 2H 1.5H H
Chord 1 2H 2H 1.3H 2H
Area AVG [mm2 ] 800 800 800 800
AF / AVG 37.5 37.5 37.5 37.5
Distance of the wingtip from the channel entrance xV H H H H
Distance between tips of winglet pairs s 0.2H 0.2H

DW: Delta wing; DWP: Delta winglet pair; RW: Rectangular wing; RWP: Rectangular winglet pair.

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998

 VORTICES, GENERATORS AND HEAT TRANSFER
Figure 17. Spanwise distribution of the Nusselt numbers normalized with
the corresponding Nusselt number, Nux0 , of channel ¯ ow without VG.
x9 = 0 corresponds to the rear end of the VG; Re = 4600, geometry: Table
1; from Tiggelbeck et al.48
parameters were kept identical: (i) angle of attack, (ii)
vortex generator area, (iii) test ® n area, (iv) blockage of the
channel by the vortex generators and (v) the channel
geometry.
The measured span averaged Nusselt numbers for the
channel without vortex generators were in excellent
agreemeent with the local Nusselt numbers obtained from
the formula given by Kakac et al.6 0 .
0.024x* -1.14 [0.0179Pr0.17 x* -0.64 - 0.14]
Nu = 7.55 +
[1 + 0.0358Pr0.17 x* -0.64 ]2
x
with x* = (1)
Dh RePr
Therefore, this formula has been used for the computation of
the reference Nu values. The Nusselt number enhancement
distributions 2 and 8 channel heights downstream of the
vortex generators are shown in Figure 17 for Re = 4600,
where the Reynolds number is based on the mean velocity
and twice the channel height (hydraulic diameter). At
x = 2H the delta wing has the highest heat transfer
enhancement peaks (> 250%) and the lowest valleys in
between. The rectangular winglet pair gives a structurally
similar Nu distribution. The rectangular wing with the
smallest base gives the smallest enhancement (< 100%). At
x = 8H the winglet pairs give higher enhancements than the
Figure 18. Area-averaged Nusselt number, Nu, normalized with corre-
sponding Nusselt number Nu0 , for channel ¯ ow without VG, Re = 4600,
geometry: Table 1; from Tiggelbeck et al.48
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998
117
Table 2. Global Nusselt number Nu and drag coef® cient cF ; Re = 4600.
DW DWP RW RWP
Nu 22.54 24.76 21.48 24.26
Nu/ Nu0 1.36 1.49 1.29 1.46
cF .(10- 2 ) 2.26 2.89 2.30 2.79
cF / cF0 1.5 1.91 1.52 1.85
DW: Delta wing; DWP; Delta winglet pair; RW: Rectangular wing;
RWP: Rectangular winglet pair; Nu0 = 16.62, cF0 = 1.51 ´ 10- 2 0.
wings. The heat transfer peaks and valleys cannot be
connected with the vortex structure because the heat transfer
distribution is the average of both channel walls.
Span averaged Nusselt numbers have been integrated in
the ¯ ow direction to give the area averaged Nu in Figure 18.
The best performance is given by the delta winglets, closely
followed by the rectangular winglets. The wings give
considerably less enhancement than the winglets. The
reason for this behaviour is connected with the stamping
of the vortex generators. The holes upstream of the vortex
generators might lead to more ¯ ow evasion for the
rectangular and delta wing than for the winglets. For
attached vortex generators, wings give higher heat transfer
enhancement than corresponding winglets4 9 .
From the measured drag, the drag coef® cient, cF , has been
determined. Table 2 presents area averaged Nusselt
numbers and drag coef® cients for the complete ® n for all
four stamped con® gurations. The drag coef® cient without
vortex generators was also determined from measurements.
For identical area ratio, ® n area to vortex generator area, and
angle of attack winglets seem to be more suitable as heat
transfer enhancement devices than wings. This result was
also found in numerical studies which compared delta
and rectangular winglets and wings, Biswas et al.4 7 ,
GuÈntermann4 9 .
Mainly winglet con® gurations were further investigated.
For delta winglets it was found that an aspect ratio variation
between 1.5 and 2.0 in¯ uenced the global heat transfer
results less than 5% if other dimensionless parameters were
not changed. Also positioning the winglets between H and
3H from the leading edge effected the global heat transfer
only within the measurement accuracy of 5%. The in¯ uence
of angle of attack and Reynolds number were much more
pronounced. Figure 19 shows the in¯ uence of angle of
attack on heat transfer enhancement and drag increase for
delta and rectangular winglets at Re = 4600. Up to an angle
of attack of about 458 both types of winglets behave
similarly. For higher angles of attack the delta winglet gives
a higher heat transfer enhancement. The effect of Reynolds
number is shown in Table 3 for an angle of attack of 658 .
The heat transfer with delta winglets is always higher than
the heat transfer with rectangular winglets and for the drag it
is the other way around, and the ratio of both stays
practically constant.
Biswas et al.47 compared numerical results for a row of
wings with experimental results for a single wing for
different angles of attack and Reynolds numbers, see Figure
20. The agreement is reasonable if one takes into account
that results for a row are compared with a single wing. As ® n
area, Biswas et al. choose the same area for which heat
transfer measurements were evaluated. As expected, the
118 FIEBIG

Figure 21. The variation of spanwise averaged heat transfer coef® cients in
stream direction for different Reynolds numbers; from Oyakawa et al..50.

Figure 19. Complete ® n area-averaged Nusselt number, Nu, normalized

with Nu0 and the friction coef® cient normalized with cF0 as function of the
angle of attack b , cF0 has been measured, Nu0 has been calculated from the
integration of the equation of Kakac et al.60; Re = 4600, geometry: Table 1;
from Tiggelbeck et al.48.

Table 3. Global Nusselt number, Nu, and drag coef® cient cF , for different
Re. Figure 22. Relation between the mean Nusselt number and Reynolds
number for different winglet spacing; from Oyakawa et al.50.
Nu/ Nu0 cF / cF0 (Nu/ Nu0 )/ cF / cF0

Re DWP RWP DWP RWP DWP RWP wing row gives higher mean values than the single wing.
The vortex axes for the wing row will stay parallel to the
2000 1.46 1.39 2.77 2.53 0.53 0.53 main ¯ ow direction, while the vortex axes for the single
4000 1.72 1.66 3.29 3.19 0.52 0.52 wing will drift laterally apart in the channel. The mean heat
6000 2.00 1.83 3.69 3.53 0.54 0.52
8000 2.20 2.00 4.17 3.88 0.53 0.52
transfer enhancement will be lower because the span
averaged values will decay faster when the heat transfer
enhancement extends laterally over the measured width,
which was twice the wing span. The difference between
wing row and single wing increases with increasing angle of
attack as seen in Figure 20 because the region of in¯ uence
becomes wider with increasing angle of attack.
Rows of `counter-rotating’ rectangular winglets with a
length to height ratio 2 at an angle of attack of 208 in
developing channel ¯ ow were investigated by Oyakawa
et al.50 . They varied the lateral spacing between a pair of
winglets from 25 over 30, 50, 75 to in® nity (single pair),
while the mid point spacing between two winglets of a pair
was kept constant at 15 mm, which was twice the winglet
height and equal to the channel height. The Reynolds
number was varied from 9400 (u = 5 m s- 1 ) up to 28,000
(u = 15 m s- 1 ). They measured the heat transfer coef® cient
for constant heat ¯ ux and the pressure loss. Up to velocities
of 15 m s- 1 the ¯ ow was still laminar at the position of the
vortex generator row at x/ H = 30. But the ¯ ow became
turbulent due to the vortex generator row. The span
averaged heat transfer coef® cient decreased in the down-
stream direction from the vortex generators and increased
with Reynolds number, Figure 21. As for boundary layer
¯ ow the heat transfer coef® cient increases with decreasing
Figure 20. Comparison between computational and experimental results for
Colburn factor as a function of Reynolds number at different angles of winglet pair spacing, except for very small spacing, see
attack, Biswas et al.47. Figure 22.

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998

 VORTICES, GENERATORS AND HEAT TRANSFER 119

Tiggelbeck et al.5 1 ,5 2 also investigated experimentally

double rows of delta winglet vortex generators; the
geometrical and ¯ ow parameters are given in Table 4. For
the same ® n to vortex generator area of 37.5 as for the single
row they found a booster effect due to the second row. It was
near optimal for a longitudinal spacing of the vortex
generator rows around 7 channel heights for a total ® n
length of 30 channel heights, Figure 23. For the second row
the angle of attack for maximum heat transfer enhancement
was reduced to about 458 while it was around 658 for the ® rst
row. Heat transfer enhancement increased with Re. The drag
coef® cient of the channel with vortex generators decreased
much less with Reynolds number than the smooth channel.
The difference between staggered and inline con® gurations
was minute.
For two dimensional arrays of rectangular winglets the
con® guration shown in Figure 5 was selected as base
con® guration. The winglets were attached to one channel
wall. The longitudinal and lateral pitch were 10 and 8
winglet heights, respectively, the length to height ratio
and thickness to height ratio of the winglets were 4 and
0.1, respectively, the winglet to channel height was 0.5,
the angle of attack was 458 , and the pivoting point of the
winglet pairs was at one quarter of their length from the
tip. The con® guration transforms into a channel with
continuous cross ribs for 908 angle of attack. The channel
wall area is 10 times the winglet area. The reference ¯ ow
is the fully developed channel ¯ ow. The angle of attack,
winglet height to channel height, longitudinal and lateral
pitch and Reynolds number were varied. Because of
space limitations only results for Re variations will be
shown.
It was found that self excited ¯ uctuations started already
at a Reynolds number around 260, Figure 24. This critical
Reynolds number increased with decreasing winglet height
and decreasing angle of attack. Varying the angle of attack,
the highest heat transfer enhancement was reached for
angles of attack around 458 for Re = 350,5 5 . The value was
found to be nearly independent of Reynolds number by
Figure 23. (a) Normalized span averaged Nusselt number Nux / Nux for Riemann6 1 . The optimal longitudinal pitch was about 7
channel with delta winglet double row (Table 4) in staggered and aligned winglet heights5 5 . Figures 25 and 26 give numerical and
con® guration, b = 458 , Re = 4600; (b) Reynolds number dependence of experimental results for ¯ ow loss enhancement and heat
global Nusselt number and (c) drag coef® cient for aligned delta winglet
double row at b = 458 (Table 4); from Tiggelbeck et al.52.
transfer enhancement as a function of Reynolds number. All
available results are shown. Separate correlations for the
Table 4. Geometrical and ¯ ow parameters of winglet con® guration; from experimental and numerical results are given. The pressure
reference (52). measurements were taken in different wind tunnels, they are
Channel con® guration all in the 95% con® dence interval. The numerical results are
Constant outside this interval for Reynolds numbers higher than 500.
Channel height H = 20 mm Here, grid independent studies indicated that the space
Lateral pitch B = 5H resolution was not yet suf® cient. Corresponding heat
Channel length L = 30 H transfer results are given separately for the smooth wall
Vortex generator geometry and the wall with vortex generators. The heat transfer on the
Symmetrical delta winglet pair, pressure
vortex generators themselves could not be measured. It was
side stamping angle of attack b = 458 , 658
Winglet length l =2H also deleted from the numerical results. Correlations are
Winglet height b/ 2 = H given for the average of both walls. Taking the vortex
Aspect ratio b2 / AVG = 2 generators into account would increase the heat transfer
Winglet tip distance s = 0.4 H enhancement. From the power law dependence of the
Streamwise position of ® rst winglet row xr = H, 3 H
Streamwise distance between winglet rows D x = 7H pressure loss and heat transfer enhancement correlations it
may be concluded that the considered base con® guration is
Variable
Streamwise distance of winglet pair centreline D y = 0, B/ 2
better suited for small Re than for high Re. For higher Re
Angle of attack b = 458 , 658 smaller vortex generator heights should be better. Investiga-
Reynolds number Re = 2000±8000 tion with vortex generators in the roughness domain are not
reported here.

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998

120 FIEBIG

Figure 24. Transition of the continuous accelerated ¯ ow: u- and w-component at z/ H = 0.5 of plane channel and winglet con® guration with b = 458 ; The
position of the hot-wire was downstream of the eighth VG-row; from Weber 56.

Figure 25. Standardized apparent friction factor fapp of one period with a periodically fully developed ¯ ow vs. Reynolds number. Comparison of different
experimental and numerical values; e/ H = 0.5, Lp / e = 10, Bp / e = 8, l/ e = 4, b = 458 ; f0 = 24/ Re; from Weber 56.

Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998

 VORTICES, GENERATORS AND HEAT TRANSFER
Figure 26. Standardized Nusselt number of one period with periodically fully developed ¯ ow versus the Reynolds number; Comparison of different
experimental and numerical values; e/ H = 0.5, Lp / e = 10, Bp / e = 8, l/ e = 4, s/ e = 1.172 for b = 458 ; from Weber 56.
CONCLU DING REMARKS
A survey has been given on delta and rectangular vortex
generators, associated vortices and heat transfer in ¯ at plate
boundary layers and channel ¯ ow.
For boundary layers only, experimental investigations
were performed with heat transfer starting only behind the
vortex generators. Single vortex generators, pairs of vortex
generators, and single rows of vortex generators were
investigated. The delta and rectangular winglets were
attached to the plate some distance behind the leading edge.
For channel ¯ ows numerical and experimental investiga-
tions were carried out. Triangular and rectangular wings and
winglets were considered. Single vortex generators, single
rows of vortex generators, and two dimensional arrays were
studied. In the experimental investigations, heat transfer
measurements were restricted to the channel walls and
entrance ¯ ow. In the calculations, entrance and fully
developed ¯ ow was considered. Entrance and fully devel-
oped thermal conditions were studied for constant wall
temperature.
For heat transfer applications channel ¯ ows are of
primary interest. Rectangular and delta winglets can easily
be incorporated into heat transfer surfaces by stamping,
embossing or attachment. No performance evaluation
criteria were applied.
The main conclusions are:
· Longitudinal vortices enhance heat transfer locally and
globally already in steady ¯ ow by their corkscrew motion
and are very persistent in laminar and turbulent high Re
¯ ows.
· Transverse vortices generate negligible global heat
transfer enhancement in steady ¯ ow.
· Both transverse and longitudinal vortices destabilize the
¯ ow and either reduce the transition Re or increase the
¯ uctuations; both increase heat transfer.
· Winglets cause higher heat transfer enhancement than
wings for otherwise identical parameters.
· Triangular and rectangular winglets give similar perfor-
mance if all other dimensionless parameters are the same.
· Heat transfer enhancement is higher in laminar ¯ ow than
in turbulent ¯ ow.
Trans IChemE, Vol 76, Part A, February 1998
121
· For laminar ¯ ow heat transfer enhancement increase with
increasing Re.
· For single vortex generators heat transfer enhancement
increases with:
(i) angle of attack and peak around 458 ;
(ii) height in the investigated range of up to half the channel
height and 6 times the boundary layer thickness;
(iii) vortex generator area;
Local heat transfer enhancement of several 100% and
global heat transfer enhancement of 50% over 100 times the
vortex generator area are possible.
For single rows of vortex generators, heat transfer
enhancement increases furthermore with decreased trans-
verse spacing of the vortex generators up to a minimum
spacing. The minimum spacing depends on angle of attack
and length to height ratio of the vortex generators. For
`counter-rotating’ delta winglet rows, zero spacing of the
winglet tips was optimal. For the investigated parameter
range of delta winglet rows, no signi® cant difference in
global heat transfer enhancement was found between rows
generating co-rotating vortices and rows generating coun-
ter-rotating vortices. Global heat transfer enhancement of
more than 100% over 40 times the vortex generator area
were achieved.
For two dimensional rectangular winglet arrays in
periodic channel ¯ ow, parameter studies indicated that
dense con® gurations with small angles of attack and small
winglet to channel heights lead to relatively high values of
heat transfer enhancement to ¯ ow loss penalty.
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ADDRESS
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Professor
M. Fiebig, Institut fuÈr Thermo- and Fluid Dynamics, Ruhr-UniversitaÈt, D-
44780 Bochum, Germany.
This paper was presented at the 5th UK National Heat Transfer
Conference, held at Imperial College London 17± 18 September 1997.