International Review of Mechanical Engineering (I.RE.M.E.), Vol. 5, N.

3
March 2011

Numerical Analysis of Laminar Forced Convection Flow

Over Backward and Forward Facing Steps
in a Duct Under Bleeding Condition
M. Atashafrooz, S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab, A. B. Ansari
Abstract This research work presents a numerical investigation of laminar forced convection
of gas flow over a recess including two backward and forward facing steps in a horizontal duct
subjected to bleeding condition. The two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system is used to solve
the governing equations which are conservations of mass, momentum and energy. These
equations are solved numerically using the CFD techniques to obtain the temperature and velocity
fields. Discretized forms of these equations are obtained by the finite volume method and solved
using the SIMPLE algorithm. The numerical results are presented graphically and the effects of
bleeding coefficient and recess length on the flow and heat transfer behaviors of the system are
investigated. Comparison of numerical results with the available data published in open literature
shows a good consistency. Copyright 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved.

Keywords: Backward and Forward Facing Steps, Bleeding, Laminar Forced Convection, Recess

Subscripts

Nomenclature
Friction coefficient
Cf
C *f

Modified friction coefficient

CR
Dh
ER
Nu
Pe
Pr
Re
T
U0

contraction ratio
Hydraulic diameter (m)
expansion ratio
Nusselt number
Peclet number
Prandtl number
Reynolds number
Temperature (K)
Average velocity of the incoming flow at the
inlet section (m/s)
Horizontal and vertical distance, respectively
(m)
Dimensionless horizontal and vertical
coordinate, respectively
Reattachment length (m)

x, y
X, Y
xr

in
w
b

I.

Thermal diffusivity (m2/s)

Dynamic viscosity ( N.s / m 2 )

kinematic viscosity (m 2 / s)

Density (kg / m 3 )
Bleeding coefficient
Dimensionless temperature

Introduction

Forced convection flow in channels with abrupt

contraction or expansion in flow geometry is widely
encountered in engineering applications. Separation
flows accompanied with heat transfer are frequently
encountered in several engineering application, such as
heat exchangers, gas turbine blades, combustion
chamber and ducts flows used in industrial applications.
A great deal of fluid mixing in the separated region has
a considerable effect on the flow and heat transfer
performances of these devices. For example, the
minimum wall shear stress and the maximum
convective heat transfer coefficient take place near to
the reattaching flow region. On the other hand, the
minimum heat transfer occurs in the vicinity of the step
corner. Therefore, the studies on separated flows both
theoretically and experimentally have been conducted
extensively during the past decade.
The flow over backward-facing step (BFS) has the
most features of separated flows. There are many
studies in which the BFS flows were analyzed from a
fluid mechanics or a heat transfer perspective.
Although, the geometry of BFS flow is very simple, but
the heat transfer and fluid flow over this type of step
contain most of complexities. Consequently, it has been
used in the benchmark investigations. There are many

Greek symbols

Inlet section
Wall
Bulk value

Manuscript received and revised February 2011, accepted March 2011

Copyright 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved

513

M. Atashafrooz, S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab, A. B. Ansari

studies about laminar convection flow over BFS in a

duct by several investigators, such that are [1]-[4].
Kondoh et al. [5] Studied Laminar heat transfer in a
separating and reattaching flow, numerically by
simulating the flow and heat transfer downstream of a
backward-facing step. The effects of channel expansion
ratio, Reynolds number and Prandtl number on heat
transfer behavior were investigated. Erturk [6]
investigated the characteristics of the flow over a two
dimensional BFS in a wide range of Reynolds numbers.
The two-dimensional NavierStokes equations for
incompressible steady flows were solved with a very
efficient finite difference numerical method which
proved to be highly stable even at very high Reynolds
numbers. A review of research on laminar convection
flow over backward and forward facing step was done
by Abu-Mulaweh [7]. In that study, a comprehensive
review of such flows, those have been reported in
several studies in the open literature was presented. The
purpose was to give a detailed summery of the effect of
several parameters such as step height, Reynolds
number, Prandtl number and the buoyancy force on the
flow and temperature distributions downstream of the
step in that review. Several correlation equations
reported in many studies were also summarized. AbuNada [8] investigated entropy generation around a
backward facing step subjected to bleeding by using
suction/blowing on the bottom wall of the step. Finite
volume method with second order accuracy was used in
the solution of the governing equations. The effects of
bleeding coefficient on the entropy generation number
and Bejan number were investigated.
Although there are many research studies about BFS
geometries, the fluid flow with heat transfer over
forward facing step (FFS) received less attention in
comparison to the convection flow over backward
facing step. In FFS flow, depending on the magnitude
of the flow Reynolds number and geometrical factors,
one or two separated flow regions may develop adjacent
to the step surface. These separated flow regions make
this geometry more complicated to study than the BFS
flow in which only one separated flow region occurs
behind the step. Owing to this fact, very limited number
of research works has investigated the laminar
convection flow over FFS in contrast to the BFS
geometry. In a recent study, Bahrami and Gandjalikhan
Nassab [9] analyzed the convection flow over forward
facing step in a duct to investigate the amount of
entropy generation in this type of flow. Gandjalikhan
Nassab et al. [10] studied the turbulent forced
convection flow adjacent to inclined forward facing step
in a duct. In that study, the Navier-Stokes and energy
equations were solved in the computational domain by
CFD method using conformal mapping technique. By
this method, the effect of step inclination angle on flow
and temperature distributions was determined.
As the convection flow over backward and forward
facing steps has many applications in engineering, the

present work deals the analysis of forced convection

flow over backward and forward facing steps, which
provides a recess in a horizontal duct. This geometry
has many applications in thermal system in which the
gas flow experiences both expansion and contraction in
a duct. Toward this end, the set of governing equations
those are conservations of mass, momentum and energy
are solved by the CFD technique in the Cartesian
coordinate system.

II.

Theory

Two-dimensional laminar forced convection of gas

flow in a 2-D horizontal heated rectangular duct over a
recess is numerically simulated. Schematic of the
computational domain is shown in Fig. 1. The upstream
and downstream heights of the duct are h1 and h2
respectively. The height of the duct inside the recess
region is H such that this geometry provides the step
height of s, with expansion(ER=H/h1) and contraction
(CR=h2/H) ratios of 2 and 0.5, respectively. The
upstream length of the duct is considered to be L1=10H
and the rest of the channel length is equal to L2=40H.
This is made to ensure that the flow at the inlet and
outlet section is not affected significantly by the sudden
changes in the geometry and flow at the exit section
becomes fully developed. The recess bottom wall is
considered permeable (see Fig.1). The length of
permeable wall with bleeding depicted by D is
considered to be 5H and 20H in the test cases. The
arrows that are shown at the permeable wall represent
the direction of mass bleed through the wall, such that
inward and outward directions represent blowing and
suction, respectively.

Fig. 1. Schematic of computational domain

III. Basic Equations

For incompressible, steady and two-dimensional
laminar flow, the governing equations are the
conservations of mass, momentum and energy that can
be written as follows:

Copyright 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved

u v

0
x y

(1)

1 p 2 u 2 u
u
u
v

x x 2 y 2
x
y

(2)

International Review of Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 5, N. 3

514

M. Atashafrooz, S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab, A. B. Ansari

v
v
1 p 2 v 2 v
v

x
y
y x 2 y 2

2 T 2T
T
T
v
2 2
x
y
y
x

the case of zero value of bleed coefficient corresponds

to impermeable wall.
Therefore, the non-dimensional velocity at the
porous segment is equal to the bleed coefficient, which
is expressed as:
v w*
(10)

(3)

(4)

In the present work, physical quantities of interest in

flow field and heat transfer study are the Nusselt
number and Friction coefficient. The Nusselt number,
friction coefficient and modified friction coefficient can
be expressed as:

In the above equations, u and v are the velocity

components in x- and y- directions, respectively, the
density, p the pressure, T the temperature, the
dynamic viscosity and is the thermal diffusivity.
The boundary conditions are treated as no slip
conditions at the solid walls (zero velocity) and constant
temperature of Tw at the bottom and top walls. At the
inlet duct section, the flow is fully developed with
uniform temperature of Tin, which is assumed to be
lower than Tw . Constant uniform velocity of v w is
allowed to bleed through the porous bottom wall in the
recess. At the outlet section, zero axial gradients for
velocity components and gas temperature are employed.

Nu

III.1. Non-Dimensional Forms the Governing

Equations

U 2

U Dh
, T Tin , Pr , Re
Tw Tin

Pe Re . Pr

(5)

where D h is the hydraulic diameter which is equal to

2h1. The non-dimensional forms of the governing
equations are as follows
U V

0
X Y

2 dU
Re dY

(12)

C *f

2
Cf
Re

(13)

(6)

2 1 U
1 U
P
U

UV

X
Re X Y
Re Y
X

(7)

1 V 2 1 V
P
UV

X
Re X Y
Re Y
Y

(8)

Numerical Procedure

Finite difference forms of the partial differential

equations (6) to (9) were obtained by integrating over
an elemental cell volume with staggered control
volumes for the x- and y- velocity components.
Other variables of interest were computed at the grid
nodes. The discretized forms of the governing equations
were numerically solved by the SIMPLE algorithm of
Patankar and Spalding [11].
Numerical solutions were obtained iteratively by the
line-by-line method. Numerical calculations were
performed by writing a computer program in
FORTRAN.
As the result of grid tests for obtaining the gridindependent solutions, an optimum grid of 800 40
with clustering near the top, bottom and step walls is
determined in x- and y- directions.
Numerical solutions are obtained iteratively by the
line-by-line method such that iterations are terminated
when sum of the absolute residuals is less than 10 4 for
each equation.
By this numerical strategy, the velocity and
temperature distributions in the fluid flow can be
obtained.

v
u v
x
y
, ) , v w* w
,
) , (U , V ) (
U
U U
Dh Dh

(11)
Y 0.0

Cf

IV.

In numerical solution of the set of governing

equations including the continuity, momentum and
energy, the following dimensionless parameters are
used to obtain the non-dimensional forms of these
equations:
(X,Y) (

1
(b w) Y

V.

Validation of Computational Results

The present numerical implementation was validated

by reproducing the results of Abu-Nada [8] in which a
forced convection flow of gas over a BFS was studied.
Variation of Nusselt number along the bottom wall is
compared with that obtained by Abu-Nada [8] in the
case of ER=2.

1
1

(9)
V
0
U

Pe X Y
Pe Y
X
Positive values of bleed coefficient correspond to
blowing and negative values correspond to suction and
Copyright 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved

International Review of Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 5, N. 3

515

M. Atashafrooz, S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab, A. B. Ansari

The results are presented graphically in Fig. 2. In this

test case, the temperature of the top wall was lower than
the temperature of the bottom wall and the gas
temperature profile at the inlet section was assumed to
be fully developed. The variation of Nusselt number
shows that the convection coefficient increases after the
step up to the reattachment point in which the maximum
value of Nusselt number takes place and then Nu
decreases and approaches to a fixed value far from the
step. However, Fig. 2 shows a good consistency
between the present numerical results with those
reported by Abu-Nada [8].

Y 0.5

10

20

30

(a)

0.0

Y 0.5

10

20

30

(b)

0.005

Y 0.5

10

20

30

(c)

0.005

Fig. 3. Streamlines contours for D=20

It can be seen from these figures that in the case of

suction, the reattachment point decreases and third
recirculation region disappears while the secondary
bubble region developed. But in the case of blowing,
the reattachment length increases while the secondary
and third bubbles disappear.
The variation of Nusselt number along the bottom
wall is illustrated in Fig. 4.
This figure shows that after the backward step
location, the value of Nu increases sharply in the
primary recirculated region because of the flow
vortices, such that the maximum local Nusselt number
on the bottom wall coincides with the point of
reattachment after which Nu decreases and approaches
to a constant value as the distance continues to increase
in the stream-wise direction.
Then, the Nusselt number decreases along the flow
direction such that the value of Nusselt number
becomes zero at the forward step corner where the fluid
has no any motion.
Moreover, Fig. 4 shows the effect of bleeding
coefficient on the distribution of Nusselt number along
the bottom wall.
This figure shows that suction increases the value of
Nu while blowing has opposite effect.
This is related to the increased temperature and
velocity gradients for the case of suction compared to
that of blowing.
High values of temperature gradients at the bottom
wall results in higher values of Nusselt number as
shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 2. distribution of Nusselt number

VI.

Results and Discussions

The present research results are about an gas flow in

a duct with two subsequent sudden expansion (ER=2)
and sudden contraction (CR=0.5) with different lengths
for the recess region at Reynolds number equal to 400,
while the Prandtl number is kept constant at 0.71 to
guarantee constant fluid physical properties for
moderate and small values of temperature difference.
First in order to show the flow pattern, the
streamlines are plotted in Fig. 3 while the recess length
is equal to D=20.
The effect of sudden expansion and contraction
along two steps is clearly seen from the curvatures of
streamlines.
Fig. 3-a shows that three main recirculation zones are
encountered for Re=400 in the flow domain. The
primary recirculation region occurs downstream the
backward step adjacent the bottom wall, whereas the
secondary recirculation zone exists along the top wall
and the third recirculation occurs on the bottom wall
before the forward step and adjacent to the step corner.
It should be noted that for small values of Reynolds
number (say for Re<350 for this test case), the
secondary recirculation zone disappears. Figs. 3-b and
3-c show the effect of blowing and suction on the
stream lines contours, respectively.
Copyright 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved

International Review of Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 5, N. 3

516

M. Atashafrooz, S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab, A. B. Ansari

10

a peak value after the reattachment point. This peak

coincides with the appearance of the secondary
recirculation bubble on the top wall. The top secondary
bubble narrows down the flow passage and maximizes
local velocity gradients on the bottom wall. To study the
effect of recess length on the flow and heat transfer
behaviors of fluid flow, another test case with different
recess length is also analyzed. The stream lines contours
for D=5 and for three bleeding coefficient is plotted in
Fig. 6. Variation of friction coefficient along the recess
bottom wall is plotted in Fig. 7.

= -.005
= .005
= 0.0

Nu

1
0
10

15

20

25

30

Y 0.5

Fig. 4. distribution of Nusselt number along the recess bottom wall

0

10

15

Fig. 5 presents the distribution of friction coefficient

for various values of the bleeding coefficient on the
bottom wall for Re = 400. The coefficient of friction is
negative inside the recirculation bubble due to the back
flow. The back flow is recognized by the negative
values of velocity and negative velocity gradients. At
the point of reattachment, the coefficient of friction is
zero due to the vanished velocity gradients. In addition,
at the step corners where the flow is at rest, the
coefficient of friction becomes zero.

(a)

0.0

Y 0.5

10

15

(b)

0.005

1
6

Y 0.5

10

15

Cf*

(c)

= -0.005
-2

= 0.005
= 0.0

0.005

Fig. 6. Streamlines contours for D=5

-4
0

= -.0005

-6

= 0.005

-1

-8
10

15

20

25

= 0.0

30

X
Cf*

-2

Fig. 5. distribution of modified friction coeficcient along the recess

bottom wall

-3

By examining the effect of blowing on coefficient of

friction, within the recirculation bubble, it is clear that
blowing decreases the coefficient of friction. This is due
to the repulsion of streamlines from the bottom wall.
The effect of suction on the coefficient of friction is
opposite to the effect of blowing. Before the
reattachment point, suction increases coefficient of
friction due to streamlines attraction. However, after the
reattachment point the mass reduction, due to suction,
reduces coefficient of friction. It is important to note
that for the case of suction the coefficient of friction has

-4

-5
10

11

12

13

14

15

Fig. 7. distribution of modified friction coeficcient along the recess

bottom wall

In this test case as the recess length D is short, the

secondary recirculation region disappears while primary

Copyright 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved

International Review of Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 5, N. 3

517

M. Atashafrooz, S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab, A. B. Ansari

[4]

D. Brakely, M. Gabriela, M. Gomes and R. D. Henderson, Three

- dimensional instability in flow over a backward - facing step,
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 473, pp. 167-190, 2002.
[5] T. Kondoh, Y. Nagano, and T. Tsuji, Computational study of
laminar heat transfer downstream of a backward-facing step,
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 36, n. 3,
pp. 577-591,1993.
[6] E. Erturk, Numerical solutions of 2-D steady incompressible
flow over a backward-facing step, Part I: High Reynolds number
solutions, Computers & Fluids, Vol. 37, pp. 633655, 2008.
[7] H. I. Abu- Mulaweh, A review of research on laminar mixed
convection flow over backward- and forward-facing steps,
International Journal of Thermal Sciences, Vol.42, pp. 897-909,
2003.
[8] E. Abu-Nada, Investigation of entropy generation over a
backward facing step under bleeding conditions, Energy
Conversion and Management, Vol. 49, pp. 32373242, 2008.
[9] A. Bahrami and S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab, Study of Entropy
Generation in Laminar Forced Convection Flow over a ForwardFacing Step in a Duct, International Review of Mechanical
Engineering, Vol. 4, n. 4, pp. 399-404, 2010.
[10] S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab, R. Moosavi and S. M. Hosseini
Sarvari, Turbulent forced convection flow adjacent to inclined
forward step in a duct, International Journal of Thermal
Sciences, Vol. 48, pp. 13191326, 2009.
[11] S. V. Patankar, D. B. Spalding, A calculation procedure for heat,
mass and momentum transfer in three-dimensional parabolic
flows, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 15,
n. 10, pp. 17871806, 1972.

and third recirculation regions affect each other such

that for all cases of bleeding, the negative velocity and
negative velocity gradient exist along the bottom wall
which causes negative value of friction coefficient
along this surface.
Fig. 8 shows the distribution of Nusselt number
along the bottom wall. As it is seen from this figure, the
Nusselt number increases after the backward step in the
primary recirculation region and reaches to its
maximum value nearly at the end of primary
recirculation region and then decreases to zero at the
forward step corner where the flow is at rest.
5

= -0.005
= 0.005
= 0.0

Nu

Authors information
0
10

11

12

13

14

15

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Shahid Bahonar University,
kerman,
Iran.

Fig. 8. distribution of Nusselt number along the recess bottom wall

M. Atashafrooz is a Ms. C. candidate in

mechanical engineering in the Faculty of
Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University,
Kerman,
Iran.
He
received
his
undergraduate degree from Shahid
Bahonar University of Kerman in 2009.
Now, he is working on his Ms. C. thesis
which is about convective flow.

VII. Conclusion
The present research work deals the analysis of
forced convection laminar flow over two sequence of
backward and forward facing steps in a 2-D horizontal
duct. The set of governing equations consisting of mass,
momentum and energy is solved numerically by the
CFD techniques in the Cartesian coordinate system. The
effects of bleeding coefficient and length of the recess
region on the Nusselt number and friction coefficient
distribution along the bottom wall between the steps
were investigated. It was revealed that these parameters
have great effect on the flow field and thermal
behaviors of the convective flow inside the recess
region.

S. A. Gandjalikhan Nassab is an associate

professor in mechanical engineering in the
Faculty of Engineering, Shahid Bahonar
University, Kerman, Iran. He received his
Ph. D. degree from Shiraz University,
Shiraz, Iran in 1999. He has several
published papers about radiation heat
transfer and also in the CFD research area.

References
[1]

[2]

[3]

A. B. Ansari is a Ms. C. candidate in

mechanical engineering in the Faculty of
Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University,
Kerman,
Iran.
He
received
his
undergraduate degree from Shahid
Bahonar University of Kerman in 2008.
Now, he is working on his Ms. C. thesis
which is about radiation effect in
convective flow.

B. F. Armaly, F. Durst, JCF. Pereira and B. chonung,

Experimental and theoretical investigation of backward-facing
step flow, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 127 , pp. 473-496,
1983.
G. Vradis and L. Van Nostrand, Laminar coupled flow
downstream an asymmetric sudden expansion, Journal of
Thermophysics Heat Transfer, Vol. 6, n. 2, pp. 288-295, 1992.
N. Tylli, L. Kaiktsis, B. Ineichen, Side wall effects in flow over
backward-facing step: experiments and numerical solutions,
Physics Fluids, Vol. 14, n. 11 , pp. 3835-3845, 2002.

Copyright 2011 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved

International Review of Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 5, N. 3

518