A numerical work is performed to investigate the thermal‐hydraulic performance in a curved channel of a journal bearing equipped with oblique horseshoe baffles. Water, a working fluid, is passed through the curved channel at a constant temperature condition of 358 K. The effects of different parameters of baffles, that is, attack angle (α = 45°, 60°, and 90°) and the number of baffles (NB = 9 and 13 baffles), are examined. Influences of design parameters on heat transfer and friction performances are studied and displayed in terms of the Nusselt number, the friction factor, the Nusselt number enhancement ratio, and the thermal‐hydraulic performance factor (THPF). The numerical simulations present the flow structures of the tested channel in terms of velocity, isotherms, turbulent kinetic energy, and vorticity contours. The numerical results reveal that the adopted geometry of the curved channel with baffles yields a significant enhancement of heat transfer rate over the plain channel (without baffles), which is approximately 2.5 to 3.8 times. Also, the results show that the best condition to achieve maximum heat transfer is at angle α = 90°, NB = 13, and Re = 5000, compared with other conditions. Furthermore, the maximum THPF of the curved channel using baffles is 4.4 at the same condition. The results confirmed that the geometry of the baffles inside the curved channel has a remarkable impact on heat transfer improvement, accompanied by a reasonable increase in friction losses.

Curved channel is commonly used in cement mill's journal bearing. In this study, heat transfer enhancement of curved channel having a rectangular cross-section with using inclined shape baffles is numerically investigated. The effects of different parameters of baffles, i.e. attack angle (α= 45°, 60°, and 90°), and the number of baffles (NB=9 and 13 baffles) are examined. The water is selected as working fluid for laminar and turbulent flow region. A standard k-turbulence model together with enhanced wall treatment is applied to solve the complex flow in Re of 500-5000. Influences of those parameters on heat transfer and friction performances in terms of Nusselt number, friction factor , Nussellt number enhancement ratio, and thermal performance factor, respectively are studied. The results show that the best condition to achieve maximum heat transfer at angle = 90°, NB=13 and Re=5000 compared with other conditions. Furthermore, the maximum thermal performance factor (TEF) of the curved channel with using baffles is 4.4 at the same condition. This indicated that the geometry of baffles inside curved channel can improve the heat transfer significantly with reasonable increase in friction losses.