Numerical solution of the three‐dimensional fluid flow in a rotating heterogeneous porous channel

A numerical solution to the problem of the three‐dimensional fluid flow in a long rotating heterogeneous porous channel is presented. A co‐ordinate transformation technique is employed to obtain accurate solutions over a wide range of porous media Ekman number values and consequent boundary layer thicknesses. Comparisons with an approximate asymptotic solution (for large values of Ekman number) and with theoretical predictions on the validity of Taylor–Proudman theorem in porous media for small values of Ekman number show good qualitative agreement. An evaluation of the boundary layer thickness is presented and a power‐law correlation to Ekman number is shown to well‐represent the results for small values of Ekman number. The different three‐dimensional fluid flow regimes are presented graphically, demonstrating the distinct variation of the flow field over the wide range of Ekman numbers used. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Prandtl number effect in porous layer convection

A Prandtl number effect for natural convection in a horizontal porous layer is demonstrated to be an explanation for the difference in heat transfer between different porous systems. A Prandtl number trend in experimental data is identified and arguments are presented to substantiate a Prandtl number dependence. Finally, Nusselt number correlations of experimental data at different Prandtl numbers have been developed.     

Laminar natural convection in a partially divided rectangular cavity at high Rayleigh number

Finite element predictions of two-dimensional laminar natural convection in a partially divided rectangular cavity at high Rayleigh number are presented. The walls are differentially heated, the horizontal surfaces are insulated and the cavity contains a partial vertical divider which is centrally located and whose height is varied. Detailed results are presented for an aluminium half-divider in water for Rayleigh number up to 10¹¹ and compared directly with recent experiments in a cavity of aspect ratio 1/2. The predicted flow and heat transfer are in good agreement with the measurements and confirm the existence of a high Rayleigh number regime with characteristic behaviour that differs significantly from that found at lower Rayleigh number. In addition, the effects of the divider height, the divider conductivity, the fluid Prandtl number and the cavity aspect ratio are studied. The results show that a direct simulation of the complex flow and heat transfer that occurs in partially divided cavities is possible for realistic physical conditions.     

Constitutive equations for multiphase mixtures of fluids

Constitutive equations for a multiphase mixture of fluids are presented. The mixture is assumed to consist of a single non-uniform temperature and no change is allowed. The theory is based on the conservation and balance equations of multiphase mixtures proposed by Dobran, and the constitutive assumption allows for the effects of temperature gradient, density gradients, velocity gradients, velocities and accelerations. A linearized form of the constitutive equations is presented for an arbitrary number of phases, and restrictions on the constitutive assumption are investigated by the second law of thermodynamics. The theory yielded a significant number of results and they are compared with previous investigations.     

A multimesh adaptive scheme for air quality modeling with the finite element method

A multimesh adaptive scheme for convection–diffusion–reaction problems for a large number of components is presented. The problem is solved by splitting transport and reaction processes. This way, the evaluation of the nonreactive part for each component and the reaction at each node constitute independent tasks. This allows to discretize each component of the solution on a distinct computational mesh, adapted on the basis of its error indicator. The standard single‐mesh strategy is used for comparison. Simulations of a point emission in a 3D domain are presented. Low remeshing periods of the adaptive scheme are found to be optimal, in terms of computational cost and accuracy, for the nonreactive problem. Examples with several reaction terms, with an increase of the complexity, are then presented. Results show that the accuracy of single‐mesh and multimesh strategies are similar. Instead, the computational cost of the multimesh strategy is lower than the single‐mesh in the majority of the examples; this process is controlled by the stiff behavior of the reactive term. The problem size of the multimesh scheme is much lower, and therefore, larger spatial discretizations can be simulated for a given available memory. The efficiency of the multimesh strategy increases with the number of species and the number of species that develop a plume. Finally, an example of a punctual emission considering realistic values of the initial concentrations and using the Community Multiscale Air Quality‐CBO5 reaction model, which involves 62 components, is presented; the small‐scale structure of the different nitrogen components near the emitter is captured. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fully-developed pipe and planar flows of multimode viscoelastic fluids

Two solutions are presented for fully-developed pipe and planar flows of multimode viscoelastic models. The fluids have a Newtonian solvent contribution and the polymer modes are described by the Phan-Thien—Tanner (PTT), the FENE-P or the Giesekus equation. The first solution is exact and can handle any number of modes, but is only semi-analytical. The second solution, which is presented only for the PTT model with a linear stress coefficient and the FENE-P model, can also handle any number of modes. It is based on a truncated series expansion and is completely analytical, but provides only an approximated solution. The complexity of the multimode solutions is investigated first with the exact semi-analytical method and it is shown that at high Deborah number flows the high-order stresses can become as important as the stress of the first mode. It is also under these conditions that the approximated analytical solution deviates from the exact semi-analytical solution. A criterion for the accurate use of the approximated solution is presented. Fortran codes are provided to obtain these solutions at the internet address at the end.     

Effects of viscous dissipation on thermally developing forced convection in a porous saturated circular tube with an isoflux wall

The viscous dissipation effect on forced convection in a porous saturated circular tube with an isoflux wall is investigated on the basis of the Brinkman flow model. For the thermally developing region, a numerical study is reported while a perturbation analysis is presented to find expressions for the temperature profile and the Nusselt number for the fully developed region. The fully developed Nusselt number found by numerical solution for the developing region is compared with that of asymptotic analysis and a good degree of agreement is observed.     

Numerical Calculation of the Hypersonic Rarefied Transverse Flow Past a Cold Flat Plate

The hypersonic rarefied transverse flow past a flat plate is considered over a wide Knudsen number range. The problem is formulated for a model kinetic equation and solved using an implicit finite-difference second-order method. The results presented demonstrate the Knudsen and Mach number effect on the aerodynamic characteristics of the plate and the flow pattern.     

Hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of laminar flow past a parabolic cylinder with constant heat flux

 Steady, two-dimensional, symmetric, laminar and incompressible flow past parabolic bodies in a uniform stream with constant heat flux is investigated numerically. The full Navier–Stokes and energy equations in parabolic coordinates with stream function, vorticity and temperature as dependent variables were solved. These equations were solved using a second order accurate finite difference scheme on a non-uniform grid. The leading edge region was part of the solution domain. Wide range of Reynolds number (based on the nose radius of curvature) was covered for different values of Prandtl number. The flow past a semi-infinite flat plate was obtained when Reynolds number is set equal to zero. Results are presented for pressure and temperature distributions. Also local and average skin friction and Nusselt number distributions are presented. The effect of both Reynolds number and Prandtl number on the local and average Nusselt number is also presented. Received on 5 July 2000     

Shock wave diffraction on multi-facetted and curved walls

The two-dimensional diffraction of a shock wave over a wall made up of a series of plane and/or curved sections is considered. The analysis is based on the theory presented by, for the interaction of an originally plane shock wave with a corner. A method is presented by which the shock profile may be determined for a wall of any shape and for any incident Mach number, in regions where the characteristics form a simple wave. Comparisons are made between experimental measurements and theoretical predictions for convex walls consisting of a number of facets, and for circular arcs, for a range of incident shock wave Mach numbers. It is shown that the theory gives a satisfactory prediction of the wave shape, which improves as the Mach number increases. Modifications in the flow field behind the shock, compared to that for a simple corner made up of two plane walls is discussed, particularly relating to flow separation. For circular arc concave walls a inverse Mach reflection results experimentally, leading to regular reflection, for which the theory is of no use. PACS 47.40.Nm     

Holberg's optimisation for high-order compact finite difference staggered schemes

Two optimised high-order compact finite difference (FD) staggered schemes are presented in this communication. Following Holberg's optimisation strategy, the least squares problem to minimising the group velocity (MGV) error, for the fourth- and sixth-order pentadiagonal schemes, is formulated. For a fixed level of group velocity accuracy, the optimised spectrum of wave number and the optimised coefficients for the schemes, are analytically evaluated. The spectral accuracy of these schemes has been verified by several comparisons with the FD staggered schemes obtained following Kim and Lee's (1996) optimisation procedure. Fewer group and phase velocity errors, greater resolution in terms of absolute error and resolving efficiency have been achieved by the optimised schemes proposed. High-order accuracy in time is obtained by marching the solution with an optimised Runge–Kutta scheme. Next, the comparison in terms of the number of grid points per wavelength required to achieve a standard accuracy for distances expressed in terms of the number of wavelengths travelled is presented. Numerical results from benchmark tests for the one-dimensional shallow water equations are presented.     

Generalized Plain Couette Flow and Heat Transfer in a Composite Channel

An analytical study of fluid flow and heat transfer in a composite channel is presented. The channel walls are maintained at different constant temperatures in such a way that the temperatures do not allow for free convection. The upper plate is considered to be moving and the lower plate is fixed. The flow is modeled using Darcy–Lapwood–Brinkman equation. The viscous and Darcy dissipation terms are included in the energy equation. By applying suitable matching and boundary conditions, an exact solution has been obtained for the velocity and temperature distributions in the two regions of the composite channel. The effects of various parameters such as the porous medium parameter, viscosity ratio, height ratio, conductivity ratio, Eckert number, and Prandtl number on the velocity and temperature fields are presented graphically and discussed.     

Heat removal from oscillating flow in a vertical annular channel

In this study, heat removal from a surface, which is located into the reciprocating flow in a vertical annular liquid column, is investigated experimentally. The experiments are carried out for four different oscillation frequencies and three heat fluxes while the amplitude remains constant for all cases. Instantaneous and time-averaged surface and bulk temperature variations are presented. The cycle-averaged values are considered in the calculation of heat transfer using the experimental measurements. Heat removal from the cold surface due to the oscillating liquid column is determined in terms of Nusselt number. Based on the experimental data, an empirical equation is obtained for the cycle averaged Nusselt number as a function of kinetic Reynolds number.     

Fluid oscillations in pipes at moderate Reynolds numbers

Little is known of the transition of the laminar motion of an oscillating fluid into turbulent motion and the resistance to motion in this region. The theoretical calculation of the critical value of the Reynolds number is very complex in this case and has not yet been successfully accomplished [1, 2]. Some experimental data on this subject are presented in [3]. Below are presented results of measurements of the critical values of the Reynolds number and the resistance forces for laminar and turbulent regimes of fluid oscillations in pipes.     

Non-Newtonian effect on natural convection flow over cylinder of elliptic cross section

The non-Newtonian effect in the boundary layer flow over a horizontal elliptical cylinder is investigated numerically. A modified power-law viscosity model is used to correlate the non-Newtonian characteristics of the fluid flow. For natural convectionflows, the surface of the cylinder is maintained by the uniform surface temperature(UST)or the uniform heat flux(UHF) condition. The governing equations corresponding to theflow are first transformed into a dimensionless non-similar form using suit...     

Numerical solution of viscous flows using integral equation methods

A formulation of the boundary element method for the solution of non-zero Reynolds number incompressible flows in which the non-linear terms are lumped together to form a forcing function is presented. Solutions can be obtained at low to moderate Reynolds numbers. The method was tested using the flow of a fluid in a two-dimensional converging channel (Hamel flow) for which an exact solution is available. An axisymmetric formulation is demonstrated by examining the drag experienced by a sphere held stationary in uniform flow. Performance of the method was satisfactory. New results for an axisymmetric free jet at zero Reynolds number obtained using the boundary element method are also included. The method is ideal for this type of free-surface problem.     

MHD forced convection boundary layer flow with a flat plate and porous substrate

The flow and heat transfer for an electrically conducting fluid with a porous substrate and a flat plate under the influence of magnetic field is considered. The magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and also along normal to the surface. The momentum and energy equations are transformed to ordinary differential equations by using suitable similarity transformation and are solved by standard techniques. But the energy equation is solved by considering two boundary layers, one in the porous substrate and the other above the porous substrate. Numerical results are presented through graphs with various values of magnetic parameter for both velocity and thermal boundary layers along with Nusselt number and for various values of Prandtl number and Eckert number in thermal boundary layer.     

Pressure drop characteristics in a rotating smooth square channel with a sharp 180° bend

The results of an experimental study to investigate the local pressure drop characteristics in a square cross-sectioned smooth channel with a sharp 180° bend rotating about an axis normal to the free-stream direction are reported here. The sharp 180° turn was obtained by dividing a rectangular passage into two channels using a divider wall with a rounded tip at the location where the flow negotiates the turn. The study was carried out for three ratios of divider wall thickness to hydraulic diameter (W/D), namely, 0.24, 0.37 and 0.73 all with a rounded tip divider wall and only for a bend with a W/D ratio of 0.37, the influence of a sharp tip divider wall was studied. Experiments were conducted for a Reynolds number varying from 10 000 to 17 000 with the rotation number (ωD/V) varying from 0 to 0.38. The pressure drop distribution, normalized with the mainstream fluid dynamic pressure head, is presented for the leading, trailing and the outer surfaces. The results indicate that the local pressure drop characteristics in the bend region are significantly affected by a change in the rotation number but the influence of the Reynolds number is weak. The friction factor is less sensitive to rotation for the bend with a W/D ratio of 0.24 when compared to bends with W/D ratios of 0.37 and 0.73. Friction factor correlations are presented which fit the experimental data within 10% for the range of parameters studied.     

MHD effects on free convective flow over moving semi-infinite vertical cylinder with temperature oscillation

Numerical solutions of magnetodynamics(MHD) effects on the free convective flow of an incompressible viscous fluid past a moving semi-infinite vertical cylinder with temperature oscillation are presented.The dimensionless,unsteady,non-linear,and coupled governing partial differential equations are solved by using an implicit finite difference method of the Crank-Nicolson type.The velocity,temperature,and concentration profiles are studied for various parameters.The local skin-friction,the average skin-fr...     

Analysis of Flow and Heat Transfer in a Vertical Rectangular Duct Using a Non-Darcy Model

Numerical investigation of steady natural convection flow through a fluid-saturated porous medium in a vertical rectangular duct is investigated. The Darcy-Forchheimer-Brinkman model is used to represent the fluid transport within the porous medium. One of the vertical walls of the duct is cooled to a constant temperature, while the other wall is heated to constant but different temperature. The other two sides of the duct are insulated. The finite difference method of second-order accuracy is used to solve the non-dimensional governing equations. The results are presented graphically to show the effects of the Darcy number, inertial parameter, Grashof number, Brinkman number, aspect ratio, and viscosity ratio. It is found that an increase in the Darcy number and inertial parameter reduces the flow intensity whereas an increase in the Grashof number, Brinkman number, aspect ratio, and viscosity ratio increases the flow intensity.