Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Turbulent Flow in a Ribbed Serpentine Passage

In this paper, the turbulent flow in a serpentine with oblique ribs is investigated experimentally and by numerical simulations. The measurements are carried out by using Magnetic Resonance Velocimetry (MRV) and the simulations using the Immersed Boundary (IB) technique. A brief description of these two approaches is reported in following sections. The results are reported in terms of velocity distributions in various planes in the serpentine; differences between measurements and simulations are presented qualitatively and quantitatively. The study of the discrepancy allows us to identify areas of needed improvements in the turbulence modeling.