Numerical simulation of fully developed turbulent flow and heat transfer in annular-sector ducts

 The mixing length theory is employed to simulate the fully developed turbulent heat transfer in annular-sector ducts with five apex angles (θ₀=18,20,24,30,40^∘) and four radius ratios (R _o/R _i=2,3,4,5). The Reynolds number range is 10⁴10⁵. The numerical results agree well with an available correlation which was obtained in following parameter range: θ₀=18,20,24,30,40^∘, R _o/R _i=4 and Re=10⁴5×10⁴. The present work demonstrates that the application range of the correlation can be much extended. Apart from the mixing length theory, the kɛ model with wall function and the Reynolds stress model are also employed. None of the friction factor results predicted by the three models agrees well with the test data. For the heat transfer prediction the mixing length theory seems the best for the cases studied. Received on 17 July 2000 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Forced convection and friction in triangular duct with uniformly spaced square ribs on inner surfaces

Experimental investigation had been conducted to study the steady-state forced convection heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the hydrodynamic fully-developed turbulent flow in the air-cooled horizontal equilateral triangular ducts, which were fabricated with the same length and hydraulic diameter. Inner surfaces of the ducts were fixed with square ribs with different side lengths of 6.35, 9.525 and 12.7 mm, respectively, and the uniform separation between the centre lines of two adjacent ribs was kept constant at 57.15 mm. Both the triangular ducts and the ribs were fabricated with duralumin. The experiments were performed with the hydraulic diameter based Reynolds number ranged from 3100 to 11300. The entire inner wall of the duct was heated uniformly, while the outer surface was thermally insulated. It was found that the Darcy friction factor of the duct was increasing rather linearly with the rib size, and forced convection could be enhanced by an internally ribbed surface. However, the heat transfer enhancement was not proportional to the rib size but a maximum forced convection heat transfer augmentation was obtained at the smallest rib of 6.35 mm. Non-dimensional expressions for the determination of the steady-state heat transfer coefficient and Darcy friction factor of the equilateral triangular ducts, which were internally fabricated with uniformly spaced square ribs of different sizes, were also developed. Received on 25 May 1999     

Heat transfer during heat sterilization and cooling processes of canned products

In this paper, an analysis of transient heat transfer during heat sterilization and cooling processes of a cylindrical canned product is presented. In the analysis, most practical case including the boundary condition of third kind (i.e., convection boundary condition, leading to 0.1 ≤ Bi ≤ 100) was employed. A simple analytical model for determining effective heat transfer coefficients for such products is developed. For the heat sterilization process, heating coefficient is incorporated into heat transfer coefficient model. An experimental study was performed to measure the thermal center temperatures of the short-cylindrical canned products (i.e., Tuna fish) during heat sterilization at the retort medium temperatures of 115^∘C and 121^∘C, and during cooling process at 16^∘C. The effective heat transfer coefficient model used the experimental temperature data. Using these effective heat transfer coefficients the center temperature distributions were calculated and compared with the experimental temperature distributions. Agreement was found considerably high. The results of the present study indicate that the heat-transfer analysis technique and heat-transfer coefficient model are reliable, and can provide accurate results for such problems. Received on 12 November 1997     

Numerical study of transient laminar natural convection heat transfer over a sphere subjected to a constant heat flux

Transient laminar natural convection over a sphere which is subjected to a constant heat flux has been studied numerically for high Grashof numbers (10⁵ ≤ Gr ≤ 10⁹) and a wide range of Prandtl numbers (Pr = 0.02, 0.7, 7, and 100). A plume with a mushroom-shaped cap forms above the sphere and drifts upward continuously with time. The size and the level of temperature of the transient cap and plume stem decrease with increasing Gr and Pr. Flow separation and an associated vortex may appear in the wake of the sphere depending on the magnitude of Gr and Pr. A recirculation vortex which appears and grows until “steady state” is attained was found only for the very high Grashof numbers (10⁵ ≤ Gr ≤ 10⁹) and the lowest Prandtl number considered (Pr = 0.02). The appearance and subsequent disappearance of a vortex was observed for Gr = 10⁹ and Pr = 0.7. Over the lower hemisphere, the thickness of both the hydrodynamic (δ_H) and the thermal (δ_T) boundary layers remain nearly constant and the sphere surface is nearly isothermal. The surface temperature presents a local maximum in the wake of the sphere whenever a vortex is established in the wake of the sphere. The surface pressure recovery in the wake of the sphere increases with decreasing Pr and with increasing Gr. For very small Pr, unlike forced convection, the ratio δ_T/δ_H remains close to unity. The results are in good agreement with experimental data and in excellent agreement with numerical results available in the literature. A correlation has also been presented for the overall Nusselt number as a function of Gr and Pr.     

Heat transfer by laminar flow in a vertical and horizontal pipe with twisted-tape inserts

 This article presents the results of laboratory research on heat exchange while heating water in horizontal and vertical tubes with twisted-tape inserts. The scope of the research: 70 ≤ Re ≤ 4000 3.6 ≤ Pr ≤ 5.9 8.6 ≤ Gz ≤ 540 The research was held for three cases: – horizontal experimental tube – vertical experimental tube, the direction of flow according to the free convection vector – vertical experimental tube, the direction of flow not in accordance with the free convection vector For such cases the correlation equation was defined Nu_T=f(Gz; y), Nu = f(Gz) and the proportion Nu_T/Nu was analysed. Received on 30 March 2000     

Numerical simulation of the effects of plate separation and inclination on heat transfer in buoyancy driven open channels

 Effects of plate separation and inclination on free convection between asymmetrically heated vertical and inclined parallel plates have been simulated. The upper isothermally heated plate is facing downwards, the lower plate is passively heated by the upper one. The plate inclinations are chosen to be 0^∘, 30^∘, 45^∘ with respect to vertical position. Three-dimensional laminar numerical simulations are obtained by solving the full elliptic governing equations using a commercial finite volume based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Comparisons of computational results with experiments and data from the literature are made in terms of relevant dimensionless numbers. It was observed that plate spacing and inclination influence the overall heat transfer rate. Received on 3 November 1998     

The crumbling of a viscous prism with an inclined free surface

Summary We study the two-dimensional instantaneous Stokes flow driven by gravity in a viscous triangular prism supported by a horizontal rigid substrate and a vertical wall. The oblique side of the prism, inclined at an angle α with respect to the substrate, is a fluid-air interface, where the stresses are zero and surface tension is neglected. We develop the stream function ψ in polar coordinates (r,θ) centered at the vertex of α and split it into an inhomogeneous part, which accounts for gravity effects, and a homogeneous part, which is expressed as a series expansion. The inhomogeneous part and the first term of the expansion may be envisioned, respectively, as self-similar solutions of the first kind and of the second kind for r→0, each one holding in complementary α domains with a crossover at α _c =21.47^∘, which we study in some detail. The coefficients of the series are calculated by truncating the expansion and using the method of direct collocation with a suitable set of points at the wall. The solution strictly holds for t=0, because later the free surface ceases to be a plane; nevertheless, it provides a good approximation for the early time evolution of the fluid profile, as shown by the comparison with numerical simulations. For 0<α<45^∘, the vertex angle remains constant and the edge remains strictly at rest; the transition at α _c manifests itself through a change in the rate of growth of the curvature. The time at which the edge starts to move (waiting time) cannot be calculated since the instantaneous solution ceases to be valid. For α>45^∘, the instantaneous local solution indicates that the surface near the vertex is launched against the substrate so that the edge starts to move immediately with a power law dependence on time t. However, due to the high value of the exponent, the vertex may seem to be at rest for some finite time even in this case. Received 29 August 1997; accepted for publication 21 January 1998     

Convection in a Lid-Driven Heat-Generating Porous Cavity with Alternative Thermal Boundary Conditions

Mixed convection flow in a two-sided lid-driven cavity filled with heat-generating porous medium is numerically investigated. The top and bottom walls are moving in opposite directions at different temperatures, while the side vertical walls are considered adiabatic. The governing equations are solved using the finite-volume method with the SIMPLE algorithm. The numerical procedure adopted in this study yields a consistent performance over a wide range of parameters that were 10⁻⁴ ≤ Da ≤ 10⁻¹ and 0 ≤ Ra _I ≤ 10⁴. The effects of the parameters involved on the heat transfer characteristics are studied in detail. It is found that the variation of the average Nusselt number is non-linear for increasing values of the Darcy number with uniform or non-uniform heating condition.     

Friction and forced convective heat transfer in a sintered porous channel with obstacle blocks

This work experimentally studies the flow characteristics and forced convective heat transfer in a sintered porous channel that filled with sintered copper beads of three average diameters ( 0.830, and 1.163 mm). The pressure drop and the local temperature measurements can be applied to figure out the distributions of the friction coefficient and the heat transfer coefficient. Three sintered porous channels differ in the arrangement of obstacle blocks. Model A has no obstacle. Models B and C have five obstacle blocks facing down and up, respectively, in a sintered porous channel. The range of experimental parameters, porosity, heat flux, and effect of forced convection are 0.370 ≤ ɛ ≤ 0.385, q=0.228, 0.872, 1.862 W/cm², and 200 ≤ Re _d ≤ 800. The permeability and inertia coefficient of each of the three sintered porous channels are analyzed. The results for Model A agree with those obtained by previous investigations in C _f distribution. The heat transfer of Model C exceeds that of Model A by approximately 20%. Finally, a series of empirical correlation equations were obtained for practical applications and engineering problems.     

Effects of solid and slotted baffles on the convection characteristics of backward-facing step flow in a channel

This study investigates the enhancement of the laminar forced convection characteristics of backward-facing step flow in a two-dimensional channel through the installation of solid and slotted baffles onto the channel wall. The effects of the height of baffle H _b, inclination of baffle installation ϕ_b, height of slot in baffle H _t, inclination of slot in baffle ϕ_t, and distance between the backward-facing step and baffle D on the flow structure, temperature distribution and Nusselt number variation for the system at various Re are numerically explored. Results show that a slotted baffle can enhance the average Nusselt number for the heating section of channel plate by the maximum 190% when Pr=0.7, H _s=0.5, L=5, H _b ≤ 0.3, W _b ≤ 0.2, 0.1 ≤ D ≤ 0.5, 0° ≤ ϕ_b ≤ 45°, H _t ≤ 0.1, 0° ≤ ϕ_t ≤ 45° and 50 ≤ Re ≤ 400. As for the solid baffle, the enhancement may be up by 230%. The solid baffle might cause the re-separation of main stream, and consequently result in poor local heat transfer coefficient in the end region of heating section. This disadvantage can be obviously improved as the baffle is slotted. Besides the penalty of increase in pressure drop due to the baffle installation is much higher for the situation with solid baffle.     

Non-Darcy buoyancy driven flows in a fluid saturated porous medium: the use of asymptotic computational fluid dynamics (ACFD) approach

Natural convection in a fluid saturated porous medium has been numerically investigated using a generalized non-Darcy approach. The governing equations are solved by using Finite Volume approach. First order upwind scheme is employed for convective formulation and SIMPLE algorithm for pressure velocity coupling. Numerical results are presented to study the influence of parameters such as Rayleigh number (10⁶ ≤Ra ≤10⁸), Darcy number (10⁻⁵ ≤ Da ≤ 10⁻²), porosity (0.4 ≤ ɛ ≤ 0.9) and Prandtl number (0.01 ≤ Pr ≤ 10) on the flow behavior and heat transfer. By combining the method of matched asymptotic expansions with computational fluid dynamics (CFD), so called asymptotic computational fluid dynamics (ACFD) technique has been employed to generate correlation for average Nusselt number. The technique is found to be an attractive option for generating correlation and also in the analysis of natural convection in porous medium over a fairly wide range of parameters with fewer simulations for numerical solutions.     

Numerical investigation of natural convection of Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> nanofluid in vertical annuli

This paper presents the numerical study of internal free convection of Al₂O₃ water nanofluid in vertical annuli. Vertical walls are maintained at constant temperatures and horizontal walls are adiabatic. Results are validated by experimental data. Effect of nanofluids on natural convection is investigated as a function of geometrical and physical parameters and particle fractions for aspect ratio of 1 ≤ H/L ≤ 5, Grashof number of 10³ ≤ Gr ≤ 10⁵ and concentration of 0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.06. More than 330 different numerical cases are investigated to develop a new correlation for the Nusselt number. This correlation is presented as a function of Nusselt number of base fluid and particle fraction which is a linear decreasing function of particle fraction. The developed correlation for annuli is also valid for the natural convection of Al₂O₃ water nanofluid in a square cavity. Furthermore, the effect of the viscosity and conductivity models on the Nusselt number of nanofluids in cylindrical cavities are discussed.     

Measurements of heat transfer coefficients between turbulent liquid jets and a radially finned heated disk placed at the bottom of an open vertical circular cavity

 Experiments have been performed to assess the impact of an extended surface on the heat transfer enhancement for axisymmetric, turbulent liquid jet impingement on a heated round disk. The disk, with an array of integral radial fins mounted on its surface, is placed at the bottom of an open vertical circular cavity. Hydrodynamic and heat transfer data were obtained for a dielectric fluorocarbon liquid FC-77. For a fixed circular heater of diameter D=22.23 mm, several geometric parameters were tested: the nozzle diameter (4.42≤d≤9.27 mm), the confining wall diameter of the vertical cavity (22.23≤D _c≤30.16 mm), and the nozzle-to-heater spacing (0.5≤S/d≤5.0). The FC-77 flow rates varied from =0.2 to 11.0 l/min producing Reynolds numbers in the wide interval 700≤Re _d ≤44,000. For d=4.42 mm, the heat transfer response to the separation distance S/d was small but increased gradually with increasing nozzle diameter up to d=9.27 mm. The thermal resistance R _th increased with the confining wall diameter D _c and also with the nozzle diameter d. A minimum value of the thermal resistance of R _th,min=0.4 cm² K/W was attained for a combination of d=4.42 mm, D _c=22.23 mm, S/d=1, and =7.5 l/min. Based on a simplified heat transfer model, reasonable agreement was obtained between measured values of the thermal resistance and the R _th-predictions. The total fin effectiveness ɛ_f was shown to increase with increasing nozzle diameter, but was invariant with the flow rate (or the jet exit velocity). More than a three-fold heat transfer enhancement was realized through the addition of the array of integral radial fins on the heated round disk. Received on 30 August 2000 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Combined Laminar Mixed Convection and Surface Radiation using Asymptotic Computational Fluid Dynamics (ACFD)

This paper reports the use of the technique of combining asymptotics with computational fluid dynamics (CFD), known as asymptotic computational fluid dynamics (ACFD), to handle the problem of combined laminar mixed convection and surface radiation from a two dimensional, differentially heated lid driven cavity. The fluid under consideration is air, which is radiatively transparent, and all the walls are assumed to be gray and diffuse and having the same hemispherical, total emissivity (ɛ). The computations have been performed on FLUENT 6.2. The full radiation problem (i.e. all the walls are radiatively black corresponding to ɛ = 1) is first taken up and the method of “perturbing and blending” is used wherein, first, limiting solutions of natural and forced convection are perturbed, to obtain correlations for the weighted average convective Nusselt numbers for the full radiation case. These correlations are then blended suitably in order to obtain a composite correlation for the weighted average convective Nusselt number that is valid for the entire mixed convection range, i.e., 0 ≤ Ri ≤ ∞. This correlation is then expanded in terms of ɛ to obtain an expression for the average convective Nusselt number that is valid for any ɛ in the range 0 ≤ ɛ ≤ 1. In so far as radiation heat transfer is concerned, using asymptotic arguments, a new weighted average radiation Nusselt number is defined such that this quantity can be expanded just in terms of ɛ. Hence, by the use of ACFD, the number of solutions required to obtain reasonably accurate correlations for both the convective and radiative heat transfer rates and hence the total heat transfer rate (Nu _total = Nu _C + Nu _R), is substantially reduced. More importantly, the correlations for convection and radiation are asymptotically correct at their ends. The effect of secondary variables like aspect ratio and the case of unequal wall emissivities can also be included without significant additional effort.     

Optimum rib size to enhance forced convection in a horizontal triangular duct with ribbed internal surfaces

The optimum rib size to enhance heat transfer had been proposed through an experimental investigation on the forced convection of a fully developed turbulent flow in an air-cooled horizontal equilateral triangular duct fabricated on its internal surfaces with uniformly spaced square ribs. Five different rib sizes (B) of 5 mm, 6 mm, 7 mm, 7.9 mm and 9 mm, respectively, were used in the present investigation, while the separation (S) between the center lines of two adjacent ribs was kept at a constant of 57 mm. The experimental triangular ducts were of the same axial length (L) of 1050 mm and the same hydraulic diameter (D) of 44 mm. Both the ducts and the ribs were fabricated with duralumin. For every experimental set-up, the entire inner wall of the duct was heated uniformly while the outer wall was thermally insulated. From the experimental results, a maximum average Nusselt number of the triangular duct was observed at the rib size of 7.9 mm (i.e. relative rib size ). Considering the pressure drop along the triangular duct, it was found to increase almost linearly with the rib size. Non-dimensional expressions had been developed for the determination of the average Nusselt number and the average friction factor of the equilateral triangular ducts with ribbed internal surfaces. The developed equations were valid for a wide range of Reynolds numbers of 4,000 < Re _D < 23,000 and relative rib sizes of under steady-state condition. A Inner surface area of the triangular duct [m²] - A _C Cross-sectional area of the triangular duct [m²] - B Side length of the square rib [mm] - C _P Specific heat at constant pressure [kJ·kg^–1·K^–1] - C ₁, C ₂, C ₃ Constant coefficients in Equations (10), (12) and (13), respectively - D Hydraulic diameter of the triangular duct [mm] - Electric power supplied to heat the triangular duct [W] - f Average friction factor - F View factor for thermal radiation from the duct ends to its surroundings - h Average convection heat transfer coefficient at the air/duct interface [W·m^–2 ·K^–1] - k Thermal conductivity of the air [W·m^–1 ·K^–1] - L Axial length of the triangular duct [mm] - Mass flow rate [kg·s^–1] - n ₁, n ₂, n ₃ Power indices in Equations (10), (12) and (13), respectively - Nu _D Average Nusselt number based on hydraulic diameter - P Fluid pressure [Pa] - Pr Prandtl number of the airflow - _c Steady-state forced convection from the triangular duct to the airflow [W] - _l Heat loss from external surfaces of the triangular duct assembly to the surroundings [W] - _r Radiation heat loss from both ends of the triangular duct to the surroundings [W] - Re _D Reynolds number of the airflow based on hydraulic diameter - S Uniform separation between the centre lines of two consecutive ribs [mm] - T Fluid temperature [K] - T _a Mean temperature of the airflow [K] - T _ai Inlet mean temperature of the airflow [K] - T _ao Outlet mean temperature of the airflow [K] - T _s Mean surface temperature of the triangular duct [K] - T Ambient temperature [K] - U Mean air velocity in the triangular duct [m·s^–1] - _r Mean surface-emissivity with respect to thermal radiation - Dynamic viscosity of the fluid [kg·m^–1·s^–1] - Kinematic viscosity of the airflow [m²·s^–1] - Density of the airflow [kg·m^–3] - Stefan-Boltzmann constant [W·m^–2·K^–4]     

Forced convection from a straight elliptical tube

The paper deals with the problem of two-dimensional laminar forced convection heat transfer from a straight isothermal tube of elliptic cross-section placed in a uniform stream. The study is based on numerical solutions of the conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy which covers the entire flow domain including the wake region. The parameters influencing the heat transfer process are essentially the Reynolds number, Re, the tube geometry represented by its minor to major axis ratio, Ar, and the angle of inclination, λ. The study focuses on the effect of Re, Ar, and λ on the heat transfer process in the range of Re from 20 to 500. The study reveals that the rate of heat transfer reaches its maximum when λ=0^∘ while the minimum occurs when λ=90^∘. The results also show that smaller axis ratio gives higher heat transfer rate when λ=0^∘. The local Nusselt number and surface vorticity distributions are plotted for a number of cases and the effect of vortex shedding on the overall rate of heat transfer is briefly discussed. Received on 20 September, 1997     

Maximum density effects on convective instability of horizontal plane poiseuille flows in the thermal entrance region

A linear stability analysis is used to study the conditions marking the onset of secondary flow in the form of longitudinal vortices for plane Poiseuille flow of water in the thermal entrance region of a horizontal parallel-plate channel by a numerical method. The water temperature range under consideration is 0∼30°C and the maximum density effect at 4°C is of primary interest. The basic flow solution for temperature includes axial heat conduction effect and the entrance temperature is taken to be uniform at far upstream location jackie=−∞ to allow for the upstream heat penetration through thermal entrance jackie=0. Numerical results for critical Rayleigh number are obtained for Peclet numbers 1, 10, 50 and thermal condition parameters (λ ₁, λ ₂) in the range of −2.0≤λ ₁≤−0.5 and −1.0≤λ ₂≤1.4. The analysis is motivated by a desire to determine the free convection effect on freezing or thawing in channel flow of water.     

Numerical study of simultaneous natural convection heat transfer from both surfaces of a uniformly heated thin plate with arbitrary inclination

 Numerical studies were conducted to investigate the natural convection heat transfer around a uniformly heated thin plate with arbitrary inclination in an infinite space. The numerical approach was based on the finite volume technique with a nonstaggered grid arrangement. For handling the pressure–velocity coupling the SIMPLE-algorithm was used. QUICK scheme and first order upwind scheme were employed for discretization of the momentum and energy convective terms respectively. Plate width and heating rate were used to vary the modified Rayleigh number over the range of 4.8×10⁶ to 1.87×10⁸. Local and average heat transfer characteristics were compared with regarding to the inclination angle. The empirical expressions for local and average Nusselt number were correlated. It has been found that for inclination angle less than 10^∘, the flow and heat transfer characteristics are complicated and the average Nusselt number can not be correlated by one equation while for inclination angle larger than 10^∘, the average Nusselt number can be correlated into an elegant correlation. Received on 18 April 2001 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Heat transfer in nucleate pool boiling of aqueous SDS and triton X-100 solutions

Variation in degree of surface wettability is presented through the application of Cooper’s correlative approach (h ∝ M ^−0.5 q _w ^″0.67) for computing enhancement (ϕ) in nucleate pool boiling of aqueous solutions of SDS and Triton X-100 and its presentation with Marangoni parameter (χ) that represents the dynamic convection effects due to surface tension gradients. Dynamic spreading coefficient defined as σ _dyn N _a , which relates spreading and wetting characteristics with the active nucleation site density on the heated surface and bubble evolution process, represents cavity filling and activation process and eliminates the concentration dependence of nucleate pool boiling heat transfer in boiling of aqueous surfactant solutions. Using the dynamic spreading coefficient (σ _dyn N _a  = 0.09q _w ^″0.71), correlation predictions within ±15% for both SDS and Triton X-100 solutions for low heat flux boiling condition (q _w^″ ≤ 100 kW/m²) characterised primarily by isolated bubble regime are presented.     

Steady mixed convection boundary-layer flow over a vertical flat surface in a porous medium filled with water at 4°C: variable surface heat flux

The steady mixed convection boundary-layer flow over a vertical impermeable surface in a porous medium saturated with water at 4°C (maximum density) when the surface heat flux varies as x ^m and the velocity outside the boundary layer varies as x ^(1+2m)/2, where x measures the distance from the leading edge, is discussed. Assisting and opposing flows are considered with numerical solutions of the governing equations being obtained for general values of the flow parameters. For opposing flows, there are dual solutions when the mixed convection parameter λ is greater than some critical value λ _c (dependent on the power-law index m). For assisting flows, solutions are possible for all values of λ. A lower bound on m is found, m > −1 being required for solutions. The nature of the critical point λ _c is considered as well as various limiting forms; the forced convection limit (λ = 0), the free convection limit (λ → ∞) and the limits as m → ∞ and as m → −1.