The impacts of partially-covered fractal grids induced turbulence on the forced convective heat transfer across plate-fin heat sink at Reynolds number ReDh = 22.0 × 103 were numerically and experimentally investigated. Results showed that partially covered grids rendered a higher thermal dissipation performance, with partially-covered square fractal grid (PCSFG) registering an outstanding increase of 43% in Nusselt number relative to the no grid configuration. The analyzation via an in-house developed single particle tracking velocimetry (SPTV) system displayed the findings of unique "Turbulence Annulus" formation, which provided a small degree of predictivity in the periodic annulus oscillations. Further assessments on PCSFG revealed the preferred inter-fin flow dynamics of (i) high flow velocity, (ii) strong turbulence intensity, (iii) vigorous flow fluctuations, (iv) small turbulence length scale, and (v) heightened decelerated flow events. These features stemmed from the coupling effects of multilength-scale fractal bar thicknesses in generating a veracity of eddy sizes, and a vertical segmentation producing heightened mass flow rate while inducing favourable wake-flow structures to penetrate inter-fin regions. Teeming effects of such energetic eddies within plate-fin array unveiled a powerful vortex shedding effect, with PCSFG achieving fluctuation frequency f = 18.5 Hz close to an optimal magnitude. The coaction of such traits limits the growth of fin boundary layers, providing superior thermal transfer capabilities which benefits the community in developing for higher efficiency heat transfer systems.
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