NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF PIN-

FINS WITH ROUGHED ENDWALLS IN GAS TURBINE BLADE INTERNAL COOLING

CHANNELS
Khanh-Duy Cong Do1, Duy-Hung Chung1, Dang-Quoc Tran1, Cong-Truong Dinh1, *, Quang-Hai
Nguyen2 and Kwang-Yong Kim3
1
School of Mechanical Engineering
Hanoi University of Science and Technology
No. 1, Dai Co Viet Road, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi 10000, Vietnam
2
Viettel Aerospace Institute
Viettel Building – Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Parrk, 100000, Hanoi, Vietnam
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Inha University
100 Inha-Ro, Nam-Gu, Incheon, 22212, Rep. of Korea

* truong.dinhcong@hust.edu.vn

ABSTRACT endwalls. These results indicate the great potential for

improving the heat transfer capability of pin-fins by
In modern jet engines, the effective cooling optimizing endwall configurations.
structure design is essential to both increase turbine
Keywords: Roughed endwalls, Turbine blade,
efficiency and, in the meantime, maintain structural
Internal cooling, Heat transfer characteristics, RANS
integrality. Pin-fin arrays play a crucial role in the
analysis, Nusselt number, Heat transfer efficiency
cooling mechanism of the turbine blade internal
index.
cooling system. In the context of investigating the
efficiency of cooling techniques using pin-fins, while NOMENCLATURE
the other studies focus on the pin-fin configurations, Notation
the current study is a step towards optimizing cooling D Pin-fin diameter, mm
cascade endwalls for better maneuver and reservation Dh Equivalent hydraulic diameter of the channel,
of vortices which lead to higher heat transfer near the mm
endwalls. This study presents the results from the f Friction factor of the heated channel with pin-
investigations of the flow-field and heat transfer fins
characteristics of the pin-fin arrays with roughed f0 Friction factor of the smooth channel
endwalls, i.e., recessed endwalls and extruded h Heat transfer coefficient, Wm-2 K-1
endwalls types. The heat transfer and pressure drop H Height of the rectangular channel/Pin-fins,
characteristics of the channel are numerically mm
examined to compare with those of the flat endwalls k Fluid thermal conductivity, Wm-1 K-1
case within a range of inlet Reynolds number, which L Length of the heated channel, mm
varies from 7400 to 36000. Both the leading and Ld Length of the development channel, mm
trailing sides of the channel are divided into five Lo Length of the outlet channel, mm
regions in the streamwise direction to understand Lp Length of the plain heated channel, mm
further the heat transfer capacity of the pin-fins and Lt Overall length of the channel, mm
the endwalls. The results show that, with these new Nu Heat transfer Nusselt number
endwall configurations, the high heat transfer regions Nu0 Nusselt number of the smooth channel
near the pin-fins are remarkably enlarged compared to q Heat flux on the heated wall, Wm-2
the flat endwalls. And in the meantime, both the new Re Reynolds number
endwall arrangements enhance the heat transfer Sx Spanwise spacing of pin-fins, mm
capacity of the channel near the pin-fins. The two new Sy Streamwise spacing of pin-fins, mm
designs outperform the baseline case, with the heat Tb Fluid bulk temperature, K
transfer efficiency index (HTEI) Nusselt number Tw Wall temperature, K
improved by 37.8% for the recessed endwalls and ∆P Pressure drop across the heated channel, Pa
15.9% for the extruded endwalls. By varying the W Width of the rectangular channel, mm
height of the indentation and the protrusion, it is found Pr Prandtl number
that, with smaller heights, both configurations produce Greek symbols
a much lower friction factor. However, with much η Heat transfer efficiency index
higher heat transfer capacity, leading to relatively λ Thermal conductivity, W/(m. K)
higher values of heat transfer efficiency index (HTEI), μ Fluid dynamic viscosity, m2/s
up to 77.7% and 41.5% of the recessed and extruded ρ Fluid density, Kg/m3
endwalls are higher than HTEI of the channel with flat Abbreviations

1
RANS Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes
HV Horseshoe Vortices
INTRODUCTION
The world is in the throes of technological
development, even though the coronavirus has
threatened the aeronautical industry, which is
explosively growing like a storm. With the increasing
demand for a gas turbine with high thermal efficiency,
a tremendous number of material-related challenges
are weighing on the scientists since the working
environment of turbine blades is exceptionally harsh
when the temperature rises to 2000K. In that context,
effective cooling methods are in urgent demand to
avoid material failure and, in the meantime, increase
material longevity. A safe and effective cooling
operation is achieved by actively cooling the blade by
pumping air inside the serpentine cascades. In
operations, an important area that requires special
investigation is the trailing edge domain. Pin-fin
arrays are common tangles promoting mechanical
support and maintaining high heat transfer capacity in
this domain. It is conventionally acknowledged that
structures like pin-fins equipped in the cooling passage
increase the wetted flow area and strengthen the
turbulence, thus augmenting the convective heat
transfer capability. Studies on the heat transfer
properties of channels with modified tangles by AP-
Lab [1-3] have shown significant advantages in
improving channels with tangles such as ribs and pin-
fins in increasing the heat transfer of the cooling
channel in the turbine blade.
Studies of pin-fin arrays in cooling channels
appear early in the 1980s with the investigations of
Metzger et al. [4, 5] and VanFossen [6]. They
concluded that the coefficient of heat transfer of pin-
fins is significantly higher than that of the endwalls or
the smooth channel. Sparrow et al. [7] and Siw et al.
[8] compared the heat transfer characteristics of
staggered and in-line pin-fin arrays and concluded that
the staggered pin-fin arrays induce higher heat transfer
capacity but also a more potent friction factor.
However, with the rotating conditions applied, the heat
transfer coefficients on both leading and trailing
surfaces are higher than the stationary conditions [9].
Lau et al. [10] observed that the height-to-diameter
ratio of normal pin-fins installed in a turbine trailing
edge section was between 0.5 and 4. Various studies
[11-13] found that the first few rows record a gradual
increase in heat transfer coefficient for both in-line and
staggered pin-fin arrays. As the flow advances into the
arrays, turbulence is amplified progressively due to the
congestion of the arrays, speeding up the flow, causing
more flow separation and associated horseshoe
vortices. Hence, the increase in turbulence intensity
produces higher heat transfer capacity around the
middle rows. Nevertheless, these circumstances seem
HTEI Heat Transfer Efficiency Index
SST Shear Stress Transport
to become fully developed around the fourth row, and
after that, the heat transfer coefficient stops rising at an
asymptotic value.
Heat transfer characteristics of the channel are
undoubtedly determined by the interaction between the
flow and pin-fins. Kirkil and Constantinescu [14],
Choi et al. [15], and Sircar et al. [16] studied the
Horseshoe Vortex (HV) pattern around a cylindrical
pin mounted on a plate. They observed random
behavior of primary and secondary necklace vortices
and local vortices at the junction of the endwalls and
pin-fins. The vortex shedding behind pin-fins is further
investigated by Schekman and Kim [17], Mon and
Gross [18], and Sahin et al. [19]. It is believed that the
interaction between these vortices represents the
reactions of the main flow characteristics induced by
the pin-fin arrays. The same results are published by
Apsilidis et al. [20], Otto et al. [21], and Won et al.
[22] found that the wake closure length decreases. The
horseshoe vortices slowly decay, which is caused by
the occurrence of mixing and the dissipation of the
shear layer becomes quicker when expanding the
Reynolds number.
When studying the pin-fins on the heat transfer
capacity of the channel, one major characteristic that is
the core to develop for many researchers is pin-fin
cross-section geometry. By altering the pin-fin cross-
section, the turbulence-related mechanism of the pin-
fin changes relatively [23]. Numerous studies of pin-
fin shapes tried to find the optimum cross-sectional
shape, such as circular, cubic [24], diamond [25],
elliptical [26], and fan-shaped [27-28]. The achieved
results can be summarized that angular shape pin-fins
come with higher heat transfer capability, but it goes
with huge pressure loss. On the other hand, pin-fins
have an aerodynamic shape accompanied by a low
friction factor, and hence, it is promising to improve
overall HTEI. For engendering the low pressure drop
of the pin-fin arrays and simultaneously increasing the
contact area of the pin-fin with the flow, some
researchers increase the streamwise length of the pin-
fin, resulting in various cross-section types [29-31].
Some results include prolonging the pin-fin in the
streamwise direction can result in a 46% lower friction
factor and 22% higher Nusselt number. The NACA
and teardrop pin-fins show the highest HTEI, with
approximately 21% higher compared to the circular
pin-fin case.
Another factor worth studying is the streamwise
and spanwise spacing of the pin-fin arrays. Changing
these distances can lead to the reform in the influence
of each pin-fin on its neighbors and the pin-fin on the
side walls. Matsumoto et al. [32] and Jeng and Tzeng
[33] investigated the adjustment of pin-fin positioning
(staggered and in-line) and the pin-fin spanwise and
2
streamwise-to-diameter ratio (Sx/D and Sy/D). The
overall outcomes showed that when changing the
arrangement of the pin-fin arrays, the staggered
disposition generally produces higher heat transfer and
friction factor penalty due to the flow obstructing
characteristics. Moreover, when varying the distance
between the pin-fins, heat transfer of the region
downstream of the pin-fin and the flow are affected,
resulting in different behavior of the wake and, thus,
different heat transfer characteristics. Reducing the
pin-fin spacings can restrict the function of vortex
shedding and increase the heat transfer of the channel
[34].
Another crucial factor that attains much attention
from researchers worldwide is the pin-fin height,
generally known as the height-to-diameter ratio (H/D).
Typically, short pin-fins produce better heat transfer
than long pin-fin arrays [35]. Ostanek and Thole [36]
discovered that H/D has a minor effect on the gradient
normal to the wall through the central part of the duct,
while reducing S/D can limit vortex generation in the
first row. It is found that the ratio H/D of the short pin-
fin is a crucial factor affecting the heat transfer
induced by the arrays [37-38]. Brigham and
VanFossen [39] discovered that with low H/D (H/D <
2), the heat transfer capability varies only with the
Reynolds number of the channel. For longer pin-fins,
the Nusselt number depends on both the H/D ratio and
Re. Lengthwise direction geometry of the pin-fin is
also considered. Some of the published articles include
the investigation of pin-fins with endwalls fillets [40],
pin-fin with gaps [41-42], and detached pin-fins [43-
45]. One unique finding is that both the heat transfer
performance and the friction factor decrease when
enlarging the size of the gaps with detached pin-fins
and pin-fins with gaps due to the diminishing flow
resistance. However, the dominating of the decreasing
pressure loss than the diminish of heat transfer results
in a higher heat transfer efficiency index (HTEI) of the
channel.
The investigations of boundary conditions are also
performed in the recent literature. The primary
condition that affects the heat transfer capacity of the
channel is heat load (the ratio of wall temperature over
bulk temperature). In general, the heat load
investigated in the numerical pin-fins channel is low.
However, the heat load of turbine cooling in real life
can be quite high. Shih et al. [46] noted that the heat
load inside turbine cooling channels could be up to
2.2. They also show that the Nusselt number depends
strongly on the Tw/Tb. They concluded that the heat
load near unity must be corrected or scaled before
being applied to turbine cooling design. Lee et al. [47,
48] used Large-eddy simulations to study the turbulent
flow of channels with heat loads of 1.01, 2.0, and 4.0.
They found that channel with high heat load creates
wall jets next to the heated surfaces. This phenomenon
changes the turbulent flow structure remarkably and
thus intensifies the surface heat transfer.
All the studies above focused on investigating the
geometry and configuration of pin-fins to perceive the
mechanism of the flow and vortices and to maximize
the HTEI of the channel. However, according to other
articles, which studied the vortices around tangles [49-
55], the primary heat transfer intensification zones of
the channel were found to be located upstream and
around the turbulator. Furthermore, Chyu and
Goldstein [56] studied mass transfer in the channel
with circular pin-fins. The results show that the
location with the highest heat transfer coefficient is
around the pin-fins due to HV. Moon and Kim [27]
investigated the influence and optimization of fan-
shaped pin-fins on the heat transfer capacity of the
channel. The results show that the wake area behind
the pin-fin is the lowest Nusselt number region. The
fan profile helps to shrink this area compared to the
circular pin fin, thereby increasing the overall heat
transfer capacity of the channel. Uzol and Camci [57]
observed and measured the wake flow domain using
particle image velocimetry (PIV) inside wake regions
for elliptic and circular pin-fin arrays. The results
show that the loss inside the wake of the circular pin is
caused by the large low-momentum wake region,
which is formed due to the separation of the flow
through the fin pin. Thus, using an elliptical pin-fin
creates a smaller low-momentum wake region,
resulting in lower pressure loss. However, questions
remained about the effect of the endwalls, which can
be used to develop and conserve the vortices around
the pin-fins, on the heat transfer capacity of the
channel. These vortices, which are typically the key
factors influencing the heat transfer capacity of the
channel, have not been appropriately investigated so
far. The present work numerically investigates the
development and the preservation of vortices of the
channel with two types of endwall-turbulator systems:
the extruded endwall and the recessed endwall. The
heat transfer characteristics, i.e., Nusselt number,
friction factor, and HTEI, are compared with those of
the flat endwall type.
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
Description of Geometry
The computational domain was constructed based
on the experimental model of Bai et al. [58], as shown
in Fig. 1. The testing sample of Bai et al. [58] consists
of four channels: the development channel, the ribbed
channel, the heated channel, and the output channel,
where five rows of staggered pin-fins are attached to
the heated channel. The original domains of Bai et al.
[58] included a section with ribs (ribbed channel)
which they used to examine the effect of uniform and
rib-turbulated flow on the heat transfer of the channel
with pin-fins. However, the replicated model in this
3
work does not contain ribs. Hence, the ribbed channel upper and lower walls. The protrusions and
of them is considered a plain heated channel in the indentations here have a referenced height of h =
work for the sake of consistency. The height and width 1mm, i.e., 5% of the height of the channel. L f1 and Lr1
of the channel are W = 80mm and H = 20mm, values are 5mm, Lf2 and Lr2 values are taken by default
respectively. The cross-section of the computed as 8mm. The detailed geometric parameter sets of both
domain is a rectangle with the aspect ratio AR = W/H cases are represented in Tab. 1. These values are the
= 80/20 = 4. The upper and lower walls correspond to reference values of the work, after which they will be
z = 0 and z = H, and the remaining two side walls are varied to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of
located at y = -W/2 and y = W/2, respectively. The the channel.
equivalent diameter of the channel, D h = 2HW/(H+W),
is 32 mm. The direction of the flow corresponds to the
direction of the x-axis.
The distance from the inlet of the channel to the
ribbed channel is Ld = 100mm. This enlarged part of
the channel is called the development channel, which
is aimed to stabilize the entrance flow and attain a
fully-developed flow. The plain heated channel and (a) Recessed endwalls (b) Extruded endwalls
heated channel lengths are L p = 300mm and L =
FIGURE 2. DESCRIPTION OF DESIGN
100mm, respectively. The distance from the outlet of
PARAMETERS
the heated channel to the outlet of the whole channel is
Lo = 200mm. This channel is an output channel that is TABLE 1. GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF
meant to lessen backflow productively. The total ROUGHED ENDWALLS
length of the calculated domain is L t = 700mm. For the
pin-fins, each pin-fin is positioned with the neighbors Parameter h/H Lf1/R Lr1/R Lf2/R Lr2/R
with the spaces, Sx/D = 2 and Sy/D = 2, and the pin-fin Reference
0.05 1.25 1.25 2 2
itself has a diameter of 8mm. All the above parameters Value
will remain unchanged throughout the calculation
Data reduction
processes. Fig. 1 describes a conventional graphical
representation of the geometric scheme of the channel The Reynolds number (Re) of the channel is
with recessed endwalls. defined as:
In this paper, extruded endwalls and recessed
endwalls models of heated endwalls are presented to
ρu D h
ℜ=
enlarge the vortex zones around the pin-fins. The μ
geometric examples of both models are described with (1)
a directed view at the Oy direction of the channel in
where u is the inlet velocity of the channel; ρ is
Fig. 2. The red points in Fig. 2 are fixed points that
remain unchanged in the x coordinate when varying the air density; Dh and μ are the channel hydraulic
the parameters of the modified endwalls. The extruded diameter and dynamic viscosity of the coolant,
and recessed domains are located in the odd rows of respectively.
the pin-fin arrays, symmetrically about the base of the
pin-fins with a directed view at the Oy direction. The
protrusions and indentations are arranged in both the

4
 The local heat transfer coefficient (h) of the and heat transfer in the channel with pin-fins using the
heated surfaces is determined by: commercial software Ansys CFX® 19.1 [61]. CFX
uses the finite volume method based on the finite
q element method with a High-Resolution Scheme for
h=
T w −T b discretizing the Advection Term. The SST turbulence
(2) model is used in the validation processes, and the
simulations with the k-ω turbulence model are
where q is the heat flux of the heated wall, T w is manipulated throughout the work. The convergence
wall temperature, and Tb is the bulk temperature of the condition is set so that the root-mean-square values of
fluid. Tb is interpolated based on x location along the the continuity, momentum, energy and turbulent
kinetic energy equations are less than 10 -6. In addition,
streamwise direction according to the formula of Bai
the heat flux at the heated wall surfaces, the
et al. [59] temperature variations of the gas at the inlet and outlet
The local Nusselt number (Nu) is used to surfaces, and the mass flow at the outlet are also set as
monitoring parameters to check for convergence.
represent the local heat transfer capacity, which can be
written as: This work uses the structured grid divided in
ANSYS-ICEM® software. The elements adjacent to
h Dh the wall and the pin-fins are specified with a height of
Nu= 1ⅹ10-6(m) to satisfy a y+ value less than 1 for the entire
λ
Reynolds number range to fit the criteria of the
(3)
turbulence model. The structural grid shown in Fig. 3
where λ is the thermal conductivity of coolant is created using hexahedral elements; the O-grid is
fluid. placed around the pin-fins to increase the mesh quality
and capture the circular contour of the pin-fins. The
According to the correlation formula of Dittus- test grid will be used for Reynolds 36000, and the
Boelter [60], the Nusselt number (Nu 0) for fully number of grids will vary from 1.9 million to 5.6
developed turbulent flow in a smooth channel of a million elements.
rectangular cross-section is defined as: Boundary conditions are established according to
the experimental and simulation conditions of Bai et
0.8 0.4
Nu0=0.023 . ℜ Pr al. [58]. The results of simulations will be compared
(4) with their experimental and simulation results. Almost
all surfaces surrounding the channel are non-slip walls.
The friction factor, which represents the pressure The upper and lower heated walls at the rib and pin-fin
loss of the channel, is defined as: locations are assigned a temperature of 298.15K, and
the remaining wall areas are adiabatic walls. The
∆ P Dh reference pressure of the calculation domain is 1 atm,
f=
2 ρ∆Lu
2 and the reference temperature is 287K. The velocity at
(5) the inlet is calculated with a Reynolds number
between 7400 and 36000. The turbulent intensity at
The friction factor obtained for fully developed the inlet is 5%, and the inlet flow temperature is
flow in a smooth channel [60] is expressed as: 318.15K. The working fluid is set as incompressible
dry air with constant properties. The specified static
−0.25
f 0=0.316 ℜ pressure at the outlet is 0 Pa. The channel is treated as
(6) non-rotating since the non-rotating condition is
relevant to the internal cooling passages in stator
The heat transfer efficiency index (η) is defined vanes. These suppositions are allowable since the heat
as: load is quite small, and the channel is relatively short,
which depicts the pressure drop as small.

( )( )
1 /3
Nu f
η= /
Nu0 f o
(7)
Numerical analysis
In the present study, the governing differential
equations, including continuity, Reynolds-averaged
Navier-Stokes (RANS), and energy equations, are
solved numerically to study the flow characteristics

5
 FIGURE 3. MESH STRUCTURE OF THE
CHANNEL
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Grid independence test and validation of
numerical results
The distribution of the dimensionless wall
distance y+ on the heated wall surfaces is shown in
Fig. 4, with Re = 36000. The area-averaged value of y+
on these walls is 0.07, and the variation of y+ on all the
walls is entirely assured to be lower than 1, which
satisfies the criteria of k-ω and SST turbulence
models. This also means that the y+ value is satisfied
for all other Reynolds numbers since the value y+ is
proportional to the velocity at the entrance, which is
proportional to the Reynolds number. Moreover, a grid
independence test was executed using the SST k-ω
model at Re = 21500. The mesh counts in this process
range from 1.9 to 5.6 million. The effect of the mesh
number on the averaged Nusselt number of all heated
surfaces is indicated in Fig. 5. The findings specified
that when the mesh number is greater than 3.3 million,
the value of averaged Nusselt number varied only
marginally by 0.09%. To strike the balance between
computational resources and precision in analysis, the
numerical grid parameters of 3.3 million elements are
selected for all numerical simulations presented in this
work.
FIGURE 4. y+ CONTOURS
FIGURE 5. INFLUENCE OF MESH ON THE
RESULT OF NUSSELT NUMBER WITH RE =
21500
The effect of mesh refinement on the convergence
of the properties of the channel is shown in Fig. 6a and
6b. The pressure and wall heat flux at y=D/2 along the
heated channel is evaluated with three different
meshes. Be noted that the actual heat flux will be
negative since the wall temperature is lower than the
inlet flow temperature. Therefore, for simplicity and
consistency, the heat flux here is taken as the absolute
value. Mesh 1 is selected with a mesh count of 1.9
million. Mesh 2 is the chosen mesh for the work, 3.3
million, and the most refined mesh (mesh 3) is 5.6
million. It can be observed that the line of mesh 2 and
mesh 3 is nearly coincident. The maximum relative
error between the two meshes was found to be less
than 0.5%. Furthermore, the zoomed images and the
extracted data show that the results are in an
asymptotic range of convergence. Hence, the
trustworthiness of the selected mesh is reasonably
validated.
6
 results are shown in Tab. 2. It is discovered that the
increase in Reynolds number comes proportionally
with the rise of averaged Nusselt number for all cases.
As for the k-ω model's averaged Nu evaluated on the
heated walls are 18.4% and 4.1% lower than the
experimental data with Re = 7400 and 14000,
respectively. With Re = 21500, 29000, and 36000, the
numerical results are sequentially 3.4%, 5.1%, and
9.1% higher than the experimental results,
respectively. This is caused partly by the uncertainty of
2% in the experimental method for the Nusselt
number. As for the SST k-ω model, there are lower
deviations with Re = 7400 and 14000 but higher with
the other Reynolds numbers. However, the Reynolds
numbers above 21500 are recommended as they are
the typical working condition of an aero-engine blade
cooling passage [30]. Hence, the k-ω model is used in
this work with the accepted maximum deviation of
approximately 18% and the deviation of Reynolds
numbers in the credible range being less than 10%,
which is acceptable for the prediction of heat transfer
when considering the simplification of the numerical
processes and error of the experimental method.
Fig. 7 demonstrates the comparison of numerical
(a) Variation of Pressure results obtained by the k-ω model in the present study,
the numerical results of Bai et al. [58], and two
experimental data from Bai et al. [58] and Chang et al.
[62], which Bai and his partners have used to validate
their experimental and numerical methods. The
visualization shows that the results from the present
study are in better agreement with both the
experimental data than the results from Bai et al. [58]
themselves. Hence, the reliability of the numerical
method has been rationally authenticated.
TABLE 2. COMPARISON OF THE RESULTS OF
BOTH TURBULENCE MODELS AND
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
Nu of SST k-ω
Re
Exp. data Nu Error Nu Error
7,400 86.9 71.5 -17.7% 70.9 -18.4%
102.
14,000 106.7 104.1 -2.4% -4.1%
4
135.
21,500 130.8 140.3 7.3% 3.4%
2
166.
29,000 158.5 172.6 8.9% 5.1%
6
195.
36,000 178.9 201.5 12.6% 9.1%
3

(b) Variation of heat flux

FIGURE 6. INFLUENCE OF 3 SELECTED
MESHES ON THE RESULTS WITH RE = 21500
To evaluate the effectiveness of the SST k-ω and
k-ω models, a comparison of the numerical results of
both models and experimental data from Bai et al. [58]
of the averaged Nusselt number on heated walls for
the Reynolds number range is carried out, and the

7

FIGURE 7. COMPARISON OF NUMERICAL AND
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS WITH RE=21,500
Behaviors of circular pin-fins in a rectangular
channel
Fig. 8 indicates the Nu contours on the lower
heated endwall for Re = 21500. It is observed that the
upstream areas of the pin-fins are covered in a high
heat transfer region, and these areas are allocated with
the high-velocity stream in Fig. 9. These vortices are
called Horseshoe Vortexes (HV), caused by the
interaction of the flow and the pin-fin. The flow is
accelerated when passing through the forward
stagnation point. After it passes the separation point,
the fluid near the pin-fin lacks sufficient momentum to
overcome the presence of the adverse pressure
gradient, forming boundary layer separation, causing
wake flow to occur downstream of each pin-fin. Here,
the wake vortexes are the leading cause of the low
heat transfer region in pin-fin applications. Because
the wake vortices are the local vortices trapped inside
each pin-fin downstream region. These vortices do not
interact with the flow of cooling fluids, but they
interact continuously with the hot surfaces of pin-fins
and endwalls. Thus, they are the main cause of the low
heat transfer regions downstream of each pin-fin [63].
FIGURE 8. NU CONTOURS ON THE LOWER
HEATED WALL FOR RE = 21500
FIGURE 9. STREAMLINES NEAR THE
ENDWALL OF VORTICES FROM TOP VIEW AT
RE = 21500
Behaviors of flow in a channel with roughed
endwall
All the parameters of the modified endwalls are
taken as referenced values to compare with the flat
endwall case to observe the fascinating way in which
the flow interacts and behaves inside the cooling
channel. For 3 cases, which include flat endwall,
extruded endwall, and recessed endwall, the
comparisons of Nusselt number, friction factor, and
thermal performance factor are described in Fig. 10a,
Fig. 10b, and Fig. 10c, respectively. A first glance
shows that the two new designs show an increase in
Nusselt number compared to the flat endwall. By
matching the new designs with the flat endwall cases,
the recessed endwall type records a rise of 30.83%,
32.61%, 32.64%, 31.36%, and 31.22% in Nu for
Re=7400, 14000, 21500, 29000, 36000, respectively.
For the extruded endwall cases, these numbers are a
bit smaller, which are 18.33%, 22.70%, 25.15%,
24.84%, and 24.88%, respectively.
In the meantime, the extruded endwalls increase
the friction factor by roughly 22.4% at Re = 7400,
approximately 26.2% for Re = 14000, 21000, 26.3%
and 26.7% at Re = 29000 and 36000 when compared
with the flat endwalls cases. This is mere because the
narrowing geometry of the extruded endwalls induces
more flow blocking and hence, higher pressure loss.
On the other hand, the recessed endwalls decrease the
pressure loss of the channel, caused by the less flow
blocking by the widened channel, represented by a
diminishing in friction factor for all Re. Overall, with
the extruded endwalls, the increase in Nu is canceled
partially by the increase in f, producing the overall η
about 10.85-15.93% higher than that of flat endwalls
in the tested range Re. Concerning the recessed
8
endwalls, the big increase in Nu combined with a
slight decrease in f makes a huge increase in η. The
overall escalations in η are precisely 37.80%, 36.91%,
37.36%, 36.31%, and 36.14% for Re = 7400, 14000,
21500, 29000, and 36000, correspondingly.
(a) Nusselt number
(b) friction factor
(c) Heat transfer efficiency index
FIGURE 10. COMPARISON OF THE FLAT
ENDWALL CASE WITH ROUGHED ENDWALLS
CASES
Fig. 11a, Fig. 11b, and Fig. 11c show Nusselt
number distributions on the pin-fins heated endwalls
with flat endwalls, extruded endwalls, and recessed
endwalls cases at Re = 21500, correspondingly. The
HV in front of the pin-fins in all the cases is seen
clearly, which are considerably larger with the
modified endwalls than the flat endwalls. This is
explained in Fig. 12, which compares the vortex
distributions of all cases. The indentations increase the
amount of interaction between the flow and heated
endwalls upstream of each pin-fin and also increase
the velocity of the flow behind it (Fig. 12b, Fig. 12c).
Be noted that the extruded endwalls case has two
indentations, and the recessed endwalls case has three
indentations. This behavior increases heat transfer and
creates momentum for the flow to develop further
backward. This further increases the heat transfer in
the back rows of pin-fin arrays, evidenced by the
enlargement of the HV of the row with indentation, as
shown in rows 2, 4 of Fig. 11b and rows 3, 5 of Fig.
11c. The detailed change of Nusselt number by rows is
demonstrated in Fig. 13a. The maximum deviation of
Nusselt number of the recessed and flat endwall cases
is in row 5, with 53.6% higher than that of the
recessed endwall case. This is because, in row 5, the
flow is highly turbulated and developed, which yields
a higher heat transfer capacity. Moreover, the
minimum deviation of 5.9% is recorded in row 4,
when the operation of jet-like beams dominates the
HV effects. In addition, when differentiating Fig. 11a
and Fig. 11c, the HV, after passing through the pin-fins
are on the brink of fainting. After that, the HV are
preserved by the upward endwalls, making the Omega
shapes of high heat transfer regions. This contributes
to the increase of Nusselt number for roughed
endwalls.
By observing Fig. 11b, the HV of the extruded
endwalls is further developed in both flow directions
and to the sides of the pin-fins in rows 2 and 4. This is
related to the accelerated flow when passing the
concave in row 1 increases turbulent kinetic energy
and passively enlarges the HV of the pin-fin row 2.
This phenomenon is repeated with rows 3 and 4. The
detailed results of Nusselt number variation by rows of
extruded endwall can be observed more profoundly in
Fig. 13a. The maximum and minimum deviations are
recorded in row 1 and row 4, with 0.2% and 40.7%
higher of the extruded endwall, respectively. In
addition, it is found that the wake vortices which
reduced the heat transfer capacity of the channel with
flat endwalls are significantly reduced in all pin-fins
with the roughed endwalls. It is discovered that the
local vortices behind the pin-fins in Fig. 11a, where
they are seen at ease, disappeared compared to Fig.
11b and Fig. 11c. This is because the horseshoe
9
vortices, after passing through the pin-fins, continue to
be accelerated on account of the narrowing geometry
of the endwalls (Fig. 12b and Fig. 12c). This effect of
the roughed endwalls limits the development of local
vortices behind each pin-fin. It reduces turbulence in
the middle downstream of the pin-fins to reduce the
loss of airflow to develop to the following rows.
Moreover, the flow behind each pin-fin is
reattached more effectively due to the presence of the
indentation. With the narrowing geometry of the
endwalls, the accelerated reattachments are more
likely to establish the jet-like effects behind each pin-
fin, which are seen in Fig. 11b and Fig. 11c. These jet-
like beams are seen more clearly in Fig. 11c, where
they dominate the HV of the following row with high
momentum. In Fig. 11b, the jet-like effect is
overwhelmed by the huge HV in rows 2 and 4, and
then it does not appear in these rows. Meanwhile, it
can be seen in row 3. Quite the opposite, these jet-like
beams dominated the whole row 5, where the HV
domains were barely noticed.

(b) Extruded endwall (c) Recessed endwall

FIGURE 11. NUSSELT NUMBER CONTOURS OF

(a) Flat endwall FLAT ENDWALLS AND ROUGHED ENDWALLS
CASES ON HEATED WALLS AT RE = 21500

(a) Flat endwall

10
 not as high as in the first few rows. Similarly, the
extruded endwall induces a lower pressure drop of
75.2% lower than the flat endwall in row 4. The
minimum deviation occurs in row 1 with 31.1% higher
than that of the extruded endwall case.

(b) Extruded endwall

(a) Nusselt number

(c) Recessed endwall

FIGURE 12. VELOCITY CONTOURS AND

STREAMLINES AT THE MIDDLE SECTION OF
THE CHANNEL AT RE = 21500
To further understand the flow mechanism of the
recessed and extruded endwall compared to the flat
endwall, the variations of Nusselt number and pressure (b) Pressure drop
drop by rows at Re=21500 are investigated (Fig. 13). FIGURE 13. VARIATION NUSSELT NUMBER
It can be seen clearly that the pressure drops of the AND PRESSURE DROP BY ROW NUMBER AT RE
recessed endwall are reduced compared to the flat = 21500
endwall by the dominating smaller pressure drop in
Overall, the increase in Nu when applying the
rows 1, 3, and 5. On the contrary, the extruded endwall
roughed endwall to the channel is mainly produced by
has an opposite phenomenon compared to the recessed
combining the indentations and the protrusions. The
endwall when the pressure drop of the odd rows is
protrusions are meant to increase the momentum of the
much higher than the flat endwall. However, the case
gas passing through it so that the flow interacts more
of extruded endwall records a slight decrease in
productively with the heated wall. On the other hand,
pressure drop in the even rows. The maximum
the indentations enlarge the area of the HV and
deviation of pressure drop was recorded between the
preserve it when it is on the verge of collapse.
recessed endwall, and the flat endwall is at row 2
when the recessed endwall had an increase of 40.8% Effect of the height of extruded endwalls on heat
compared to the flat endwall. This is because the transfer of the channel
extrusion of the recessed endwall case at row 2
In this and below subsections, the investigation of
induces a flow obstruction when the flow is still at
the heat transfer properties of the extruded endwalls
high velocity. The minimum deviations are at rows 4
with varying heights is performed. The modified
and 5, and these deviations are approximately 16%.
endwalls height to channel height ratio (h/H), or the
This can be explained by the flow in these rows being
height ratio, is considered a changing parameter,
slowed down, and the obstruction effect of the
which varies from 0.01 to 0.25, and the step is 0.02
extrusion and the open-up effect of the indentation is

11
with the referenced value of 0.05. The results for flat FIGURE 14. VARIATIONS OF NUSSELT
endwalls with a height ratio of 0 are added to compare NUMBER, FRICTION FACTOR, AND HEAT
the overall change. TRANSFER EFFICIENCY INDEX WITH THE
When investigating the effect of the height ratio HEIGHT OF EXTRUDED ENDWALLS AT RE =
of extruded endwalls on the channel heat transfer 29000
capacity, it is discovered that both the Nusselt number
By observing the velocity field of the channel in
and η increase when extending the height ratio from 0
Fig. 15a, it is found that the case with elevated
to 0.13. After that, these characteristics come to an
protrusion shows a higher velocity at the locations of
asymptotic value after the peak numbers are reached.
row 2 and row 4 and near the other rows. These
Furthermore, the friction factor enlarges further with
phenomena increase the heat transfer capacity of all
increasing the height ratio. It exceeds a massive
rows in the channel by increasing the Nusselt number
number of 2.79 at Re = 29000 and h/H = 0.25, far
and enlarging the regions of high Nu of the endwalls
higher than that of the referenced case and the circular
(Fig. 15b) compared to the reference case. But also,
pin-fins case, which is 0.52 at the same Reynolds
the uniformity of the flow is changed, and the flow is
number. This huge number is canceled out by the high
distorted by the deep converging and diverging
Nusselt number and produces higher η than the
geometry of the channel. This phenomenon leads the
circular case. The peak point happens at h/H = 0.13
flow to converge near the endwalls and increases the
and Re = 29000. The peak Nusselt number and η are
heat transfer in these regions. On the other hand, the
approximately 82.2% and 41.5% higher than the
narrowing channel yields a higher pressure loss and
circular pin-fins case. The peak heat transfer
hence a higher friction factor of the channel.
performances hit 35.5%, 38.2%, 40.0%, 41.5%, and
40.6% higher than the η of the flat endwalls cases at
Re = 7400, 14000, 21500, 29000, and 36000,
respectively. The detailed results for Nu, f, and η are
shown in Fig. 14a and Fig. 14b.

h/H=0.05

h/H=0.13

(a) Area-averaged Nu (a) Streamlines and velocity contours

(b) Heat transfer efficiency index

12
 relative ratio when dividing f of the flat endwalls over
the f at h/H = 0.25 reduces with the increase Re, which
is, as expected, caused by the fully-developed flow of
the cooling channel.
Overall, the rapidly increasing Nusselt number
accompanies the changing of f, which generates an
expeditious enlargement of η with h/H < 0.13.
Moreover, the η continues to rise after that and until it
reaches the peak point of the Nusselt number at h/H =
0.21. The peak η reach 73.8%, 76%, 77.7%%, 74.2%,
and 73.3% higher than those of the flat endwalls cases
at Re = 7400, 14000, 21500, 29000, and 36000,
respectively.

h/H=0.05 h/H=0.13

(b) Nusselt number (a) Area-averaged Nu

FIGURE 15. VELOCITY FIELD AND NU
CONTOURS ON THE HEATED WALL AT HEIGHT
RATIOS OF 0.05 AND 0.13 AT RE = 29000
Effect of the height of recessed endwalls on heat
transfer of the channel
The changing height of recessed endwalls is
executed by the same work as extruded endwalls in the
subsection above. The investigations resulted in a
parabolic shape of the Nu graph when increasing the
height ratio. In Fig. 16a and Fig. 16b, which describe
the changes of Nu, f, and η when varying the height
ratio of the recessed endwalls at Re = 21500, the
Nusselt number is found to increase rapidly at a low
height ratio (h/H < 0.13). However, it increases more
slowly when the height ratio grows until it reaches the
maximal value of h/H = 0.21. After that, the Nusselt (b) Heat transfer efficiency index
number decreases steadily with h/H > 0.21. Besides, it FIGURE 16. VARIATIONS OF NUSSELT
has been discovered that the friction factor reduces NUMBER, FRICTION FACTOR, AND HEAT
dramatically when increasing the height ratio from 0 TRANSFER EFFICIENCY INDEX WITH THE
to 0.07. Subsequently, after it reaches the minimal HEIGHT OF RECESSED ENDWALLS AT RE =
value at 0.07, it increases monotonously when 21500
increasing the height ratio for all Re. With Re = 7400,
the value at h/H = 0.25 is found to be smaller than the When considering Fig. 17a, which describes the
flat endwalls, which is illuminated by the slow and change of streamlines at Re = 7400 when changing the
developing flow of this Re. As expected, the friction height ratio. It is found that as the height of the
factors of the other Reynolds numbers are relatively indentation increases, the forward vortices of the pin-
lower than Re = 7400, represented by the maximum fins are enhanced both in terms of turbulent intensity
decreasing f when increasing Re. Moreover, the and flow convergence. Meanwhile, there are excellent

13
heat transfer enhancements at the back of the pin-fins
with deep indentations when the flows are accelerated,
resulting in better flow reattachment than in the
reference case. This results in a significant increase in
heat transfer at the rear of the pin-fins. This is more
easily observed in Fig. 17b, where the regions of poor
heat transfer behind the pin-fins for h/H = 21% almost
disappear, and the HV regions in front of the pin-fins
are also enhanced. Furthermore, the accelerated flows
passing through the indentation also increase the heat
transfer of the pin-fins in the rows without the
indentation, as observed by the expansion of the heat
transfer regions and the higher Nusselt numbers in
rows 2 and 4.
h/H=0.05
h/H=0.21
(a) Streamlines and velocity contours
h/H=0.05 h/H=0.21
(b) Nusselt number contours
FIGURE 17. VELOCITY FIELD AND NU
CONTOURS OVER THE HEATED ENDWALL AT
HEIGHT RATIOS OF 0.05 AND 0.21 AT RE = 7400
In addition, the higher flow velocity of the case
with a more profound height results in enhanced heat
transfer in some regions, such as those near the
sidewalls of rows 2 and 4, as shown in Fig. 17b.
However, it is observed that the jets formed behind the
pin-fins of the protruded rows are significantly
reduced due to the flows in the region exiting the
indentation deflected towards the centerline
downstream of the pin-fins, decaying the formation of
these jets and contributing to the HV of the protruded
rows. This phenomenon increases the impact area of
HV in the protruded rows 2 and 4 and results in the
high heat transfer regions mentioned above.
Furthermore, when considering the streamlines and Nu
of the case with Re = 21500 in Fig. 18, it is found that
although the flow phenomena and heat transfer
characteristics are still quite similar to those of Re =
7400, disturbances are seen in the flows, which are no
more homogeneous (Fig. 18a). In addition, the number
Re = 21500 is large enough for the flows to develop
turbulently but still small enough that the friction
factor increases too high as the depth of the
indentation increases, making the heat transfer
efficiency gain better than the rest of the Reynolds
number cases.
14
 Comparing Fig. 18a further with the streamlines
of the Re = 7400 case in Fig. 17a, it is discovered that
the flow in the channel is considerably more
perturbed, especially when the height of the
indentation is increased to h/H = 0.21. Furthermore,
from these two figures, after row 1, the flow velocity
tends to be more significant in the upper half of the
channel. There are more vortices near the lower heated
wall, so the flow velocity is also smaller. However, the
following rows show the opposite, with higher flow
velocities in the lower half of the channel. This does
not appear with Reynolds number 7400 in Fig. 17a.
This is because vortices have grown a lot when the
indentation is deep, and the Reynolds number is large
enough, causing the flow to become overly turbulent
and no longer symmetric.
h/H=0.05
h/H=0.21
(a) Streamlines and velocity contours
h/H=0.05 h/H=0.21
(b) Nusselt number contours
FIGURE 18. VELOCITY FIELD AND NU
CONTOURS OVER HEATED WALL AT HEIGHT
RATIOS OF 0.05 AND 0.21 AT RE = 21500
Effect of the parameters of inclination of extruded
endwalls on heat transfer of the channel
In this and below subsections, the four parameters
of inclination of the roughed endwalls are studied,
including Lf1/R, Lr1/R, Lf2/R, and Lr2/R. The detailed
parameters set are listed in Table 3.
TABLE 3. LIMITS OF TESTED GEOMETRIC
PARAMETERS
Minimum Maximum
Parameter Step
Value Value
Lf1/R 1.25 2 0.25
Lr1/R 1.25 2 0.25
Lf2/R 1.25 2 0.25
Lr2/R 1.25 2 0.25
The variations of Nu and η with the ratio Lf1/R are
shown in Fig. 19a and Fig. 20a for extruded endwalls.
It is discovered that the ratio of 2 gives the highest Nu
and η. Overall, when increasing L f1/R from 1.25 to 2,
the Nusselt number and heat transfer efficiency index
increase. Moreover, the increase step becomes larger
when expanding the convex from normal protrusion to
vertical extrude. It is also found that at Lf1/R = 2, the
three cases with Re = 21500, 29000, and 36000 have η
of about 31% to 32% higher than that of the flat
endwalls. However, with Re = 7400 and 14000, the
heat transfer performances are 24% and 28% higher
than that of the flat endwalls, respectively. The peak η
is noted at Re = 21500 and L f1/R = 2. The comparison
of streamlines and Nusselt numbers on the heated wall
between the two cases with L f1/R = 1.25 and 2 are
described in Fig. 21a and Fig. 21b. It is found that the
increase in heat transfer capacity of the case with L f1/R
= 2 is mainly because it has a larger area for the HV to
develop in the odd rows. This is because the vertical
protrusions in front of the pin-fins induce more
turbulence and heat transfer capacity (Fig. 21a).
Hence, even though the high heat transfer areas in the
even rows are reduced slightly, the heat transfer
capacity of the odd rows overwhelmed it to increase
the heat transfer capacity of the channel.
Moreover, changing the other three ratios give
different heat transfer capacity results. Firstly, with the
ratio Lr1/R, the highest Nusselt number and HTEI are
recorded at Lr1/R = 1.75. This case has the highest
Nusselt number but a relatively low friction factor
compared to the other cases (Fig. 19b and Fig. 20b).
The peak η is 23.6% higher than that of the flat
endwalls. Secondly, the variations of Nu and η with
15
the ratio Lf2/R are shown in Fig. 19c and Fig. 20c. It is
observed that when increasing the ratio L f2/R, the Nu
and η decrease for all Reynolds numbers. Hence, the
highest Nu and η are noted at Lf2/R = 1.25 and Re =
21500, which are 36.0% and 23.8% higher than that of
the flat endwalls case. It is found that the ratio of L f2/R
= 1.25 induces more secondary flow in the channel
near the heated wall, which is similar to the effect of
the ribs on cooling serpentine. Lastly, with the ratio
Lr2/R, the results of Nu and η are shown in Fig. 19d
and Fig. 20d. The statistics show that the highest Nu
and η belong to the case of Lr2/R = 1.5. These are
30.0% and 19.2% higher than that of the flat endwalls
case at Re = 21500, respectively. It is discovered that
this case has a positive impact on flow by increasing
the flow velocity for the development of flow while (c) Nusselt number with changing Lf2/R
decreasing the emergence of local vortices at the foot
of the extrusion. Hence, this case has a lower friction
factor than the other cases.

(d) Nusselt number with changing Lr2/R

FIGURE 19. VARIATIONS OF NUSSELT
NUMBER WITH THE PARAMETERS OF
(a) Nusselt number with changing Lf1/R INCLINATION FOR EXTRUDED ENDWALLS

(b) Nusselt number with changing Lr1/R (a) HTEI with changing Lf1/R

16

(b) HTEI with changing Lr1/R
(c) HTEI with changing Lf2/R
(d) HTEI with changing Lr2/R
FIGURE 20. VARIATIONS OF HEAT TRANSFER
EFFICIENCY INDEX WITH THE PARAMETERS
OF INCLINATION FOR EXTRUDED ENDWALLS
Lf1/R=1.25
Lf1/R=2
(a) Streamlines and velocity contours
Lf1/R=1.25 Lf1/R=2
(b) Nusselt number contours
FIGURE 21. VELOCITY FIELD AND NU
CONTOURS OVER THE HEATED WALL AT Lf1/R
OF 1.25 AND 2 AT RE = 21500
Effect of the parameters of inclination of recessed
endwalls on heat transfer of the channel
This subsection aimed to consider the
modification of the heat transfer characteristics of the
channel by changing the parameters of inclination for
the recessed endwalls. When changing the parameter
Lf1/R, variations of Nusselt number and HTEI with
Reynolds number are shown in Fig. 22a and Fig. 23a.
In general, both Nusselt number and heat transfer
efficiency of recessed endwalls channel increase with
Lf1/R. Nevertheless, it is observed that the parameter
Lf1/R = 2 is an exception while it gives both a low
Nusselt number and HTEI for all Reynolds numbers,
broking the trend. These phenomena are explained by
growing Lf1/R, causing the indentation to widen,
creating an almost vertical depression in front of the
pin-fins, and extending the vortex around the pin-fins
forward. But, when the sides of the indentation expand
17
to be steep, the downfold of the indentation generates efficiency peaked at Re = 21500 and Lr2/R = 1.25 by
huge local vortices in this region. These local vortices 46.8% higher than that of the flat endwalls.
act like the wake flow behind the pin-fins, stay in the
location indefinitely and inhibit the development of
the HV around pin-fins. Heat transfer efficiency
reaches 45.6% higher than flat endwalls at Reynolds
number 21500 and Lf1/R = 1.75.
When examining Fig. 24a and Fig. 24b, it is found
that the high heat transfer areas in front of the pin-fins
in row 1 and near the sidewalls of Lf1/R = 1.75 are
slightly enlarged than Lf1/R = 2. Although the flow
pattern of the two cases is identical, the local vortices
with Lf1/R = 2 decrease the heat transfer capacity of
the channel and limit the development of the flow to
the rear rows. Besides, with increasing the parameter
of Lr1/R, the changes in Nusselt number and HTEI are
shown in Fig. 22b and Fig. 23b. Overall, the cases of
Lr1/R=2 give both the highest Nusselt number and heat
transfer efficiency for the whole Reynolds number (a) Nusselt number with changing Lf1/R
range. This is also explained as the area containing the
vortices around the pin-fin, especially at the rear, is
enlarged to help increase the high heat transfer
regions. In addition, the vertical concave region at the
back of the pin-fins also creates good heat transfer in
these regions because the local vortices help create
turbulence in these areas and help develop turbulence
in the following rows.
In general, both Nusselt number and heat transfer
efficiency increase with the L r1/R ratio. Nusselt
number also increases with Reynolds number. In
addition, the increase in heat transfer efficiency
peaked at Re = 29000 and Lr1/R = 2, with 48.3%
higher than that of the flat endwalls case. With the
parameter Lf2/R, the variations of Nu and η are
described in Fig. 22c and Fig. 23c. At L f2/R =1.25, the
(b) Nusselt number with changing Lr1/R
highest Nusselt number and the highest heat transfer
efficiency are found. This is because this case creates a
depression that contains a lot of local vortices near the
pin-fins, which help disturb the flow and increase heat
transfer. However, this depression is very close to the
pin-fins, reducing the heat transfer areas compared to
the cases when changing the Lf1/R parameter. As a
result, the highest gain at Re = 21500 and L f2/R = 1.25
is 42.9% higher than that of the flat endwalls. This
growth is 45.6% of the Lf1/R parameter.
In general, the change with increasing L r2/R
parameter is identical to that of increasing L f2/R
number (Fig. 22d and Fig. 23d). The case with L r2/R =
1.25 has the highest Nusselt number and heat transfer
coefficient. This is explained as the fully vertical
concave area at the back also creates good heat
transfer zones due to the local vortex around the pin- (c) Nusselt number with changing Lf2/R
fins, in a similar way to the parameter L r1/R. However,
both the efficiency and the Nusselt number of the Lr2/R
parameter are smaller than that of the L r1/R parameter
also because the good heat transfer areas are restricted
closer to the pin-fins. The increase in heat transfer

18
 (c) HTEI with changing Lf2/R
(d) Nusselt number with changing Lr2/R
FIGURE 22. VARIATIONS OF NUSSELT
NUMBER WITH THE PARAMETERS OF
INCLINATION FOR RECESSED ENDWALLS

(d) HTEI with changing Lr2/R

FIGURE 23. VARIATIONS OF HEAT TRANSFER
EFFICIENCY INDEX WITH THE PARAMETERS
OF INCLINATION FOR RECESSED ENDWALLS
(a) HTEI with changing Lf1/R

Lf1/R=1.75

Lf1/R=2

(b) HTEI with changing Lr1/R (a) Streamlines and velocity contours

19

Lf1/R=1.75 Lf1/R=2
(b) Nusselt number contours
FIGURE 24. VELOCITY FIELD AND NU
CONTOURS OVER THE HEATED WALL AT Lf1/R
OF 1.75 AND 2 AT RE = 21500
CONCLUSION
This paper studies the heat transfer characteristics
of flat endwalls, extruded endwalls, and recessed
endwalls in cooling channels with pin-fin arrays
numerically. The investigations are executed using
RANS equations with the k-ω turbulence model in a
Reynolds number range from 7400 to 36000. Besides,
the height parameter and parameters of inclination of
the protrusions and indentations in a channel with
roughed endwalls are also examined. The results show
that the roughed endwall changes the structure of the
vortices around the pin-fins in all rows. These vortex
structures are further strengthened, and the heat
transfer at the endwalls is also intensified when the
flow reaches the following rows. Primary extruded
endwalls case can achieve 15.9% higher efficiency
than that of the flat endwalls at Re = 21500. Besides,
the HTEI is 37.8% higher for the recessed endwalls
case than the flat endwalls case at Re = 7400. When
increasing the value of the height ratio of the recessed
endwalls, the results show that both the Nusselt
number and the heat transfer efficiency increase
gradually and decrease after reaching the maximum
value, while the friction factor increases after dropping
to the minimal value. This is because increasing the
indentation height enhances both the high heat transfer
areas and the vortices around the pin-fin. The results
indicate that the highest value of heat transfer
efficiency is at h/H = 0.21 for all Reynolds numbers,
and the gained peak is 77.7% higher than that of the
flat endwalls at Re = 21500. Besides, the extruded
endwalls record a monotonous increase in Nusselt
number and friction factor, but after h/H = 0.13, the η
fluctuates around the point of balance, which is peaked
at h/H = 0.13 and Re = 29000 by 41.5% higher than
that of the flat endwalls case.
By varying the parameters of inclination of the
roughed endwalls, it is discovered that with the L f1/R
case, the highest η happens when the flow velocity is
boosted highest. However, the vertical indentation
creates the local vortices far from the pin-fins, which
reduces the overall heat transfer capacity and
moderates the HV to develop. With changing the Lr1/R
parameter, the vertical indentation opens up the high
heat transfer region behind each pin-fin. It helps create
more turbulence in this region and enlarge the space
for the flow to develop. The two cases of L f2/R and
Lr2/R of 1.25 induce the highest η by producing more
turbulence around the pin-fins. On the other hand, the
high heat transfer regions around them are restricted
by the limited space that these regions bring about.
With the extruded endwalls cases, the peak η records
at Lf1/R = 2, Lr1/R = 1.75, Lf2/R = 1.25, and Lr2/R =
1.5. And, with the recessed endwalls cases, the peak η
is at Lf1/R = 1.75, Lr1/R = 2, Lf2/R = 1.25, and Lr2/R =
1.25.
Based on the present investigation results, the
subsequent work is aimed to optimize the roughed
endwalls using some optimization techniques to
maximize the HTEI of the rectangular channel.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study is funded by Hanoi University of
Science and Technology (HUST) under grant number
T2021-PC-039, and the cooperation research between
HUST and Viettel Aerospace Institute (VTX).
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