Energy 132 (2017) 49e56

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Energy
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Geometry effect on ow uctuation and heat transfer in unsteady

forced convection over backward and forward facing steps
W.A. Xie a, G.N. Xi b, *
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
b
School of Mechanical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study presents a direct numerical simulation of the geometry effect on uid ow and heat transfer
Received 25 January 2017 characteristics in the transitional ow over backward and forward facing steps. A computer program of
Received in revised form FORTRAN code is used to solve the governing equations according to nite volume method. The effects of
15 April 2017
the bottom wall length and the step height are investigated. With the increase of bottom wall length, a
Accepted 11 May 2017
Available online 12 May 2017
fundamental frequency of ow uctuation appears at Lb 10 h and then disappears at Lb 14 h. This
fundamental uctuating frequency decreases with the increase of step height. The fact that the heat
transfer performance is better in the reattachment region at Lb 12 h and S h indicates that the
Keywords:
Backward and forward facing steps
periodic ow uctuation with a larger uctuating velocity has positive effects on heat transfer
Unsteady forced convection enhancement. The results of the relationship between ow uctuation and heat transfer enhancement
Geometry effect are signicant for certain practical applications of energy conversion.
Flow uctuation 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Heat transfer

1. Introduction
The separation and reattachment ow is widely involved in the
practical applications. The backward-facing step and the forward-
facing step become benchmark models for the studies of ow
separation and reattachment due to the simple geometry. The
topics of the studies on backward-facing step are mainly focus on
the velocity distribution, ow instability, structure of the recircu-
lation zone, effect of the expansion ratio and heat transfer of the
bottom wall. Armaly et al. [1] reported that the ow regimes are
characterized by typical variations of the reattachment length with
Reynolds number according to experimental results. Barkley et al.
[2] investigated the 3D instability of backward-facing step ow in
the laminar and transitional ow regime. Biswas et al. [3] analyzed
the corner vortex and the primary recirculation vortex over a
backward-facing step for various expansion ratios at low and
moderate Reynolds numbers. Nie and Armaly [4] reported the ef-
fects of step height on the uid ow and heat transfer character-
istics of 3D backward-facing step ow in the laminar regime. Chen
et al. [5] investigated the effects of step height on turbulent sepa-
rated ow over a backward-facing step by numerical simulation.
They found that the size of the primary recirculation zone increases
* Corresponding author. Nantong University, 9 Se Yuan Rd., Nantong 226019,
China.
E-mail address: xieweian99@126.com (G.N. Xi).
with the increase of step height and the step height also has a
strong effect on the bulk temperature, turbulent kinetic energy,
friction coefcient and Stanton number. Tihon et al. [6] numerically
and experimentally studied the effects of expansion ratio and inlet
ow condition on the ow structures downstream of a backward-
facing step. Rain et al. [7] presented a numerical simulation of the
vortical structures in the transitional ow over a 3D backward-
facing step. The 3D characteristics with the Kelvin-Helmholtz
instability and Taylor-Grtler-Like longitudinal vortices were
found in the ow eld. Pouryousse et al. [8] presented an exper-
imental study of separation zone control by using plasma actuators
in the turbulent backward-facing step ow. The results showed that
installing the plasma actuator upstream of the separation point is
more effective than inside the separation zone. Xie et al. [9] re-
ported that the vortical structure appears downstream of the
reattachment point has a positive effect on the heat transfer of
bottom wall in the transitional ow.
The studies on the forward-facing step are mainly considering
the ow distributions and the heat transfer characteristics down-
stream of the step. Largeau et al. [10] analyzed the wall pressure
uctuations and the topology in separated ows over a forward-
facing step. They demonstrated that the apping motion at the
separation is important in the ow organization at the reattach-
ment point. Moosavi and Nassab [11] reported the study of the
turbulent ow over a single inclined forward-facing step. The re-
sults show that the inclined angle has a strong effect on the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.05.072
0360-5442/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
50 W.A. Xie, G.N. Xi / Energy 132 (2017) 49e56

extension of recirculation zones. Nassab et al. [12] also demon-

strated that the step length and its inclination angle have profound
effects on the heat transfer characteristics in the turbulent forced
convection ow passed an inclined forward-facing step. Hattori and
Nagano [13] performed a numerical study on the structures of
turbulent boundary layer over a forward-facing step. Sherry et al.
[14] experimentally investigated the evolution of the recirculation
zone formed downstream of a forward-facing step in the turbulent
ow. Kherbeet et al. [15] reported a numerical and experimental
study on the heat transfer of nanouid in the laminar ow over a
microscale forward-facing step. The results showed that the heat
transfer is inuenced by the volume fraction and the nanoparticles
type. Togun et al. [16] found that the increase in volume fraction of
nanouid, Reynolds number, and step height can enhance the heat
transfer. The largest heat transfer enhancement is obtained in the
case of 4% volume fraction of Al2O3.
The investigations on the uid ow and heat transfer in a
channel with backward and forward facing steps are few. Ghaddar
et al. [17,18] presented a numerical study on the self-sustained
oscillation and oscillatory heat transfer enhancement of incom-
pressible ow in grooved channels. Atashafrooz et al. [19] investi-
gated the entropy generation in the laminar ow in a channel with
inclined backward and forward facing steps under bleeding con-
dition. Ranjan et al. [20] numerically studied the turbulent heat
transfer in swept ow over a wire in a channel which is similar to
the channel with backward and forward facing steps. The peak
Nusselt number appears in the reattachment region and is about
50% higher compared to the case without crossow. Sourtiji et al.
[21] numerically investigated the turbulent forced convection ow
in a square cavity with inlet and outlet ports. The position of the
outlet port as well as Reynolds number has a profound effect on
heat transfer. Villanueva and Mello [22] presented a study on the
heat transfer and pressure drop correlations in nned plate ceramic
heat exchanger, which is a practical application of the similar
structure of backward and forward facing steps.
Studies on the uid ow and heat transfer characteristics in a
channel with a block are also investigated. Kim et al. [23] reported
the forced convection heat transfer of two heated blocks in a
channel under inlet pulsating condition. The results showed that
the heat transfer is mainly affected by the Strouhal number and the
block spacing. Mushatet [24] investigated the effects of step height,
number of blocks, and block thickness on ow and thermal eld in
a channel with a backward-facing step and blocks. Guerroudj and
Kahalerras [25] reported a numerical study of the laminar mixed
convection in a channel with heated porous blocks on its lower
wall. The results showed that the shape of the blocks has a pro-
found effect on ow structure and heat transfer.
From the above analysis, the studies in the published literature
are mainly considered for a single backward-facing step or a single
forward-facing step. However, little research has been done on the
heat transfer characteristics in a channel with backward and for-
ward facing steps. To the best of authors knowledge a study of the
geometry effect on ow uctuation and heat transfer in unsteady
forced convection over backward and forward facing steps has not
been found in the published literature. One aim of this study is to
examine the effects of the bottom wall length and the step height
on the uid ow and heat transfer characteristics. Another aim of
this study is to clarify the relationship between the ow uctuation
and the heat transfer enhancement.
Fig. 1. Geometry domain of the channel with backward and forward facing steps.
dimensional forced convective ow in a channel with backward
and forward facing steps, as can be seen in Fig. 1. This study is
treated as two-dimensional because three-dimensional ow char-
acteristics are mainly considered for high Reynolds numbers.
Armaly et al. [1] demonstrated that the sidewall boundary condi-
tions and the aspect ratio have a strong effect on the transition from
two-dimensional to three-dimensional in the laminar and transi-
tional ow regimes. Without consideration of the sidewall effect,
the two-dimensional results in the present study are similar to the
three-dimensional results. The inlet channel height Reynolds
number is dened as Re ruin h/m, where the inlet channel height
(h) is xed at 15 mm. The bottom wall length (Lb) and the step
height (S) are alterable. The length of the upstream wall (L0 2 h)
and the length from the inlet to the exit (L 60 h) are held constant
throughout the simulations. The non-dimensional computational
domain is 2  x/h  58, 0  y/h  2 with the origin of coordinates
at the lower corner of the backward-facing step.
The boundary conditions for the considered problems can be
expressed as follows:
$The ow at the channel inlet is considered to be fully developed
for the streamwise velocity with an average value uin . Therefore,
the inlet velocity (uin) is unidirectional and parabolic. The inlet
temperature (Tin) is uniform. (uin 23uin , v 0, Tin 10 C).
$ The velocity and temperature elds at the channel exit of the
computational domain are assumed to obey the boundary layer
approximation [26].
$ No-slip boundary conditions are assumed for all channel walls.
The temperature of the button wall (Tw) is constant. Other
channel walls are adiabatic. (Tw 40 C)
2.2. Governing equations
This study presents a two-dimensional numerical simulation for
the ow with an assumption of constant properties in a channel
with backward and forward facing steps. The continuity, mo-
mentum and energy equations can be expressed as follows:
vu vv
r r 0 (1)
vx vy
vu v
2 v vP v2 u v2 u
r r u r vu  m 2 m 2 (2)
vt vx vy vx vx vy
vv v v
2 vP v2 v v2 v
r r uv r v  m 2m 2 (3)
vt vx vy vy vx vy

2. Numerical methods vT v v v2 T v2 T
rCp rCp uT rCp vT l 2 l 2 (4)
vt vx vy vx vy
2.1. Physical model and boundary conditions
where u, v, P and T denote the two velocity components, pressure
The physical problem considered in the present study is a two- and temperature, respectively. r, m, l and Cp represent the density,
 W.A. Xie, G.N. Xi / Energy 132 (2017) 49e56 51

dynamic viscosity, thermal conductivity and specic heat at con-

stant pressure, respectively. The constant properties in the gov-
erning equations are dened as: r 1.247 kg m3, m 1.76  105
kg m1$s1, l 0.0251 W m1  C1 and Cp 1.005 J kg1  C1.
The governing equations are solved by a computer program of
FORTRAN code according to nite volume method. The QUICK
scheme is used to discretize the convective terms in the mo-
mentum equations and the ADI method is used to solve the fully
implicit nite difference equations. In each time step
(Dt 3.85  104s), the iterative program is repeated ve times to
relax the solution and the SIMPLE algorithm (Patankar and Spald-
ing [27]) is used for the computation of velocity-pressure coupling
in the iterative program. The Courant number (c) for the smallest
grid cell (Dxmin) is equal to unity by setting the time increment.
The Courant number is dened as:

umax Dt
c (5)
Dxmin
In the present study, the articial initial conditions are used for
ow elds and temperature elds in the computational domain. Fig. 2. Grid independence test results of time-mean Nusselt number along the bottom
The same initial conditions as the inlet ones are used in the region wall.

upstream of the backward-facing step. The initial velocity and the

initial temperature at every streamwise position downstream of
642  101 is ne enough to resolve the ow and temperature elds
the backward-facing step are set as u 0, v 0 and T 10  C. With
in this study.
these initial conditions, the transient behavior appears in the ow
The computer program of FORTRAN code used in this study is
elds and temperature elds at the start of computation. After a
checked against the benchmarked results of backward-facing step
while, the ow uctuating frequency reaches an asymptotic value.
ow reported by Barkley et al. [2] and Armaly et al. [1]. The results
The results of this study are obtained after such a stage of the
of the reattachment length of backward-facing step ow at
computation is attained.
Re 700 (base on the inlet channel height h) are shown in Table 1.
The local Nusselt number along the bottom is dened as:
The expansion ratio in this table is dened as ER H/h. The error
qw h is 1.3% for the 2D numerical result of Barkley et al. at ER 2, while
Nu (6) the error reaches 13.3% for the experimental result of Armaly et al.
lTw  Tin
at ER 1.94.
where qw represent the wall heat ux, which is dened as
qw l vT 3. Results and discussions
vy . After integrating the local Nusselt number, the time-
mean Nusselt number is obtained as:
The time-mean Nusselt number (Num) and time-mean friction
Z
t0 t coefcient (Cfm) along the bottom wall at Re 700 in two geom-
1 etries are shown in Fig. 3. On one hand, the heat transfer is
Num Nutdt (7)
t signicantly enhanced in the channel with backward and forward
t0
facing steps against the channel with a single backward facing step.
The local friction coefcient along the bottom is dened as: On the other hand, in the geometry of backward and forward facing
steps, an obvious reduction in the reattachment length appears and
tw
Cf . (8) the time-mean friction coefcient also increases. According to
ru2in 2 these ndings, it is interesting to investigate the geometry effect on
the uid ow and heat transfer in a channel with backward and
where tw represent the wall shear stress, which is dened as forward facing steps.
tw m vu
vy. After integrating the local friction coefcient, the time-
mean friction coefcient is obtained as: 3.1. Effects of the bottom wall length

Z
t0 t Fig. 4 shows the instantaneous streamlines and velocity elds at
1
Cfm Cf tdt (9) Re 700 for various bottom wall lengths (Lb 8 h, 10 h, 12 h and
t 14 h). In the case of Lb 8 h, the ow is steady along the roof wall
t0
and the primary recirculation zone is not fully developed due to the
block effect of the forward-facing step. Several step-scale vortices
2.3. Grid distribution and validation study appear downstream of the backward-facing step and the counter-

The computation domain in the present study is divided by the

Table 1
non-uniform grids. The number of the grids increases in the regions Reported values for the reattachment lengths Xr at Re 700.
where the velocity and temperature gradients are larger. Grid in-
Xr/h Error (%)
dependence study is assured by testing the time-mean Nusselt
number distributions along the bottom wall at Re 700. The results Present (ER 2) 15.88 0
of four grid sizes are in good agreement with each other, as can be Barkeley et al. (ER 2) 15.67 1.3
Armaly et al. (ER 1.94) 13.76 13.3
seen in Fig. 2. According to the test results, the grid size of
52 W.A. Xie, G.N. Xi / Energy 132 (2017) 49e56

(a) (b)
Fig. 3. The time-mean Nusselt number and time-mean friction coefcient along the bottom wall at Re 700, (a) The channel with backward and forward facing steps (S h,
Lb 12 h), (b) The channel with a single backward facing step (S h).

(a) Lb = 8h

(b) Lb = 10h

(c) Lb = 12h

(d) Lb = 14h

Fig. 4. Instantaneous streamlines and velocity elds for different bottom wall lengths at Re 700. (a) Lb 8 h. (b) Lb 10 h. (c) Lb 12 h. (d) Lb 14 h.

clockwise rotating vortices appear in the vicinity of the bottom
wall. In the cases of Lb 10 h, 12 h and 14 h, four recirculation zones
(the primary recirculation zone downstream of the backward-
facing step, the secondary recirculation zone near the roof wall
and two recirculation zones upstream and downstream of the
forward-facing step) appear in the ow eld. The reattachment
length of the primary recirculation zone increases with the increase
of bottom wall length. The vortices in the primary recirculation
zone are combined to form one large scale recirculation vortex at
Lb 14 h and the secondary recirculation zone starts to split at
Lb 12 h. The size of the two recirculation zones upstream and
downstream of the forward-facing step also changes with the in-
crease of the bottom wall length and the Taylor-Grtler instabilities
appear in these recirculation zones.
Fig. 5 shows the instantaneous temperature elds at Re 700
for various bottom wall lengths (Lb 8 h, 10 h, 12 h and 14 h). The
temperature uctuations are mainly caused by the Kelvin-
Helmholtz instability emanating from the separated shear layer.
The temperature boundary layer of the bottom wall becomes
thinner in the reattachment region. In the case of Lb 8 h, the
temperature of the uids above the bottom wall is higher than that
in the main ow. In the cases of Lb 10 h, 12 h and 14 h, the rotating
motion of the vortices along the channel walls enhances the
interchange of cold uid and hot uid which leads to the temper-
ature uctuation from the bottom wall toward the roof wall. The
temperature of the uids downstream of the forward-facing step
increases due to the combined effects of the ow instability and
heat transfer instability for Lb 10 h, 12 h and 14 h. The temper-
ature uctuation upstream of the forward-facing step becomes
more effective at Lb 12 h and it decreases at Lb 14 h.
Fig. 6 shows the time-mean Nusselt number and time-mean
friction coefcient along the bottom wall at Re 700 for various
bottom wall lengths. The Num increases suddenly downstream of
the backward-facing step due to the ow reattachment and then
decreases along the bottom wall due to the redevelopment of the
temperature boundary layer except for the case of Lb 8 h. The Num
distributions have large values near the lower corner of the
forward-facing step at Lb 8 h. In the cases of Lb 10 h, 12 h and
14 h, the position of Num peak value moves toward the downstream
with the increase of bottom wall length. The maximum Num peak
 W.A. Xie, G.N. Xi / Energy 132 (2017) 49e56 53

(a) Lb = 8h

(b) Lb = 10h

(c) Lb = 12h

(d) Lb = 14h

Fig. 5. Instantaneous temperature elds for different bottom wall lengths at Re 700. (a) Lb 8 h. (b) Lb 10 h. (c) Lb 12 h. (d) Lb 14 h.

Fig. 6. Distributions of time-mean Nusselt number and time-mean friction coefcient

for different bottom wall lengths at Re 700.

value appears at Lb 12 h, which is about 10% larger than other

cases. The Cfm decreases to a negative peak and then increases to a
positive peak along the bottom wall due to the velocity recovery in
the reattachment region. The maximum negative Cfm peak appears
at Lb 10 h and the maximum positive Cfm peak appears at
Lb 12 h. It is signicant to point that the heat transfer increases
with the decrease of friction coefcient from Lb 10 h to Lb 12 h
in the reattachment region. Thus, the uid ow and heat transfer
performance is relatively better in the case of Lb 12 h.
In order to investigate the effect of bottom wall length on ow
uctuating characteristics at Re 700, the test point velocity
component in y direction (v) and the power spectral density (PSD)
of v for various bottom wall lengths are presented in Fig. 7. The
coordinate of the test point is (x/h 10, y/h 1.4). The uctuations
of v and the PSD distributions are irregular at Lb 8 h, which in-
dicates that the uid ow does not have any periodicity. In the case
of Lb 10 h, the maximum uctuating velocity appears in the ve-
locity distribution and a single peak appears in the PSD distribution
corresponding to the fundamental frequency f 5 Hz. The uid
ow remains the periodicity with the lower uctuating frequency
f 3.75 Hz in the case of Lb 12 h. The fact that several peaks
appear in the PSD distribution at Lb 14 h indicates that the uid Fig. 7. The test point results of velocity component in y-direction (v) and the power
ow loses its stable uctuating frequency. spectral density (PSD) of v for different bottom wall lengths at Re 700.
54 W.A. Xie, G.N. Xi / Energy 132 (2017) 49e56

3.2. Effects of the step height selected as Lb 12 h.

From what has been discussed on the effects of the bottom wall
length, we see that the periodic ow uctuation and the better heat
transfer performance appear in the case of Lb 12 h. In order to
investigate the effects of the step height on the periodic ow with
better heat transfer performance, the bottom wall length was
Fig. 8 shows the instantaneous streamlines and velocity elds at
Re 700 for various step heights (S 0.4 h, 0.6 h, 0.8 h and h). With
the increase of step height, the ow instability increases due to the
interaction between the separated shear layer and the main ow.
The size of the primary recirculation zone and the vortices along
the channel walls downstream of the reattachment point increases

(a) S = 0.4h

(b) S = 0.6h

(c) S = 0.8h

(d) S = h
Fig. 8. Instantaneous streamlines and velocity elds for different step heights at Re 700. (a) S 0.4 h. (b) S 0.6 h. (c) S 0.8 h. (d) S h.

(a) S = 0.4h

(b) S = 0.6h

(c) S = 0.8h

(d) S = h
Fig. 9. Instantaneous temperature elds for different step heights at Re 700. (a) S 0.4 h. (b) S 0.6 h. (c) S 0.8 h. (d) S h.
 W.A. Xie, G.N. Xi / Energy 132 (2017) 49e56 55

Fig. 10. Distributions of time-mean Nusselt number and time-mean friction coefcient
for different step heights at Re 700.

obviously in the cases of S 0.8 h and S h. The recirculation zone

upstream of the forward-facing step appears at S 0.4 h. In the case
of S 0.6 h, the small scale counter-clockwise rotating vortices
appear in the primary recirculation zone near the bottom wall. In
the cases of S 0.6 h, 0.8 h and h, a small size recirculation zone
appears downstream of the forward-facing step and the uctuation
of the main ow increases due to the effect of the vortices along the
channel walls.
Fig. 9 shows the instantaneous temperature elds at Re 700
for various step heights (S 0.4 h, 0.6 h, 0.8 h and h). The thickness
of the temperature boundary layer downstream of the primary
recirculation zone becomes thinner with the increase of the step
height. The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability appears in the separated
shear layers in all cases. The temperature uctuate in the channel
due to the enhanced interchange of hot uid and cold uid in the
cases of S 0.8 h and S h. In these cases, the hot uids move
toward the downstream of the forward facing step along with main
ow by the effect of the increased heat transfer instability.
Fig. 10 shows the time-mean Nusselt number and time-mean
friction coefcient along the bottom wall at Re 700 for various
step heights. The Num and the Cfm have signicant changes with the
increase of step height. The heat transfer of the bottom wall Fig. 11. The test point results of velocity component in y-direction (v) and the power
downstream of the primary recirculation zone is enhanced greatly spectral density (PSD) of v for different step heights at Re 700.
with the increase of step height. In the cases of S 0.8 h and S h, a
larger Num peak appears near the position of x/h 7 and a lower
Num peak appears close to the forward-facing step. The heat can be drawn:
transfer increases by about 100% from S 0.4 h to S h in the
reattachment region. The Cfm has no signicant changes at $ The bottom wall length and the step height have a profound
S 0.4 h. In other cases, the Cfm decreases to a negative peak and effect on the ow uctuation. With the increase of bottom wall
then increases along the bottom wall. The absolute value of the length, the ow uctuation starts to has a periodicity at
negative peak increases with the increase of step height. Addi- Lb 10 h and loses its fundamental frequency at Lb 14 h. The
tionally, due to the increase of ow instability in the case of S h, ow uctuation remains the periodicity for various step heights
the Cfm has a positive value in the primary recirculation zone. and the fundamental uctuating frequency decreases with the
The test point velocity component in y direction (v) and the increase of the step height.
power spectral density (PSD) of v for various step heights at $ The heat transfer characteristics of the bottom wall have sig-
Re 700 are presented in Fig. 11. The coordinate of the test point is nicant changes in different geometries. The periodic ow
(x/h 10, y/h 1). The uctuating velocity increases with the in- uctuations in the cases of Lb 10 h and Lb 12 h have a
crease of step height. The fact that the PSD distributions have a positive effect on heat transfer, the heat transfer in the reat-
single peak for all step heights indicates that the ow uctuations tachment region at Lb 12 h increases by about 10%. With the
remain the periodicity in these cases. In the cases of S 0.4 h and increase of step height, the heat transfer performance becomes
S 0.6 h, the peak values of the power spectral density correspond better due to the effect of the larger uctuating velocity with
to a fundamental frequency f 7.25 Hz. The uctuating frequency lower fundamental frequency. The heat transfer in the reat-
decreases with the increase of step height, the fundamental fre- tachment region increases by about 100% from S 0.4 h to S h.
quency decreases to f 4 Hz at S 0.8 h and f 3.75 Hz at S h. $ In the channel with backward and forward facing steps, the
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability appears in the separated shear
layer and the Taylor-Grtler-Like vortices appear in the recir-
4. Conclusions culation zones.
$ The results of the relationship between the ow uctuation and
A numerical study of the geometry effect on uid ow and heat heat transfer enhancement have an important signicance in
transfer characteristics in the unsteady ow over backward and the practical applications such as heat exchanger and
forward facing steps is performed. The effects of the bottom wall combustor.
length and the step height are investigated. Following conclusions
56 W.A. Xie, G.N. Xi / Energy 132 (2017) 49e56

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