Numerical Study on Thermal and Flow Characteristics of Divergent Duct with Different Rib Shapes for Electric-Vehicle Cooling System

The cooling performance of the air-conditioning system in electric vehicles could be enhanced through geometrical optimization air ducts. Furthermore, it has been proven that heat-transfer divergent channels is better than conventional channels. Therefore, present study investigates thermal and flow characteristics ducts with various rib shapes for vehicles. characteristics, namely, temperature difference, pressure drop, coefficient, Nusselt number friction factor, are numerically studied. Divergent comprising ribs different rectangle, isosceles triangle, left right trapezoid, trapezoid arranged symmetrically modeled as computational domains. simulated ANSYS Fluent commercial software Reynolds-number range 22,000–79,000. numerical model validated by comparing results corresponding experimental obtaining errors 4.4% 2.9%, respectively. reveal duct right-triangular shape shows maximum values coefficient 180.65 W/m2K 601, same a drop factor 137.3 Pa 0.040, respectively, which lower those all shapes, except trapezoidal right-trapezoidal shapes. Considering trade-off comparison between proposed best configuration. In addition, effect conditions inlet on configuration discussed. considered to develop an air-duct efficiency