Mixed convective heat transfer characteristics and mechanisms in structured packed beds

The structured packed bed is considered a promising reactor owing to its low pressure drop and good heat transfer performance. In the heat transfer process of thermal storage in packed beds, natural convection plays an important role. To obtain the mixed convective heat transfer characteristics and mechanisms in packed beds, numerical simulations and coupling analyses were carried out in this study on the unsteady process of fluid flow and heat transfer. A three-dimensional model of the flow channel in the packed bed was established, and the Navier–Stokes equations and Laminar model were adopted for the computations. The effects of the driving force on fluid flow around a particle were studied in detail. The differences in velocity and density distributions under different flow directions due to effect of the aiding flow or opposing flow were intuitively demonstrated and quantitatively analyzed. It was found that the driving force strengthens the fluid flow near the particle surface when aiding flow occurs and inhibits the fluid flow when opposing flow occurs. The boundary layer structure was changed by the natural convection, which in turn influences the field synergy angle. For the aiding flow, the coordination between the velocity and density fields is higher than that for the opposing flow. By analysis the effects of physical parameters on mixed convective heat transfer, it is indicated that with an increase in the fluid-solid temperature difference or the particle diameter, or a decrease in the fluid temperature, the strengthening or inhibiting effect of natural convection on the heat transfer became more significant.