Numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in channel with V corrugated plates

A detailed numerical study is carried out to investigate fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in a channel with heated V corrugated upper and lower plates. The parameters studied include the Reynolds number (Re = 2,000–5,500), angles of V corrugated plates (θ = 20°, 40°, 60°), and constant heat fluxs (q″ = 580, 830, 1,090 W/m²). Numerical results have been validated using the experimented data reported by Naphon, and a good agreement has been found. The angles of V corrugated plates (θ) and the Reynolds number are demonstrated to significantly affect the fluid flow and the heat transfer rate. Increasing the angles of V corrugated plates can make the heat transfer performance become better. The increasing Reynolds number leads to a more complex fluid flow and heat transfer rate. The numerical calculations with a non-equilibrium wall function have a better accuracy than with a standard wall function for solving high Reynolds numbers or complex flow problems.     

3D Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow analysis in plate-fin and tube heat exchangers with electrohydrodynamic enhancement

Three-dimensional laminar fluid flow and heat transfer over a four-row plate-fin and tube heat exchanger with electrohydrodynamic (EHD) wire electrodes are studied numerically. The effects of different electrode arrangements (square and diagonal), tube pitch arrangements (in-line and staggered) and applied voltage (V_E=0–16 kV) are investigated in detail for the Reynolds number range (based on the fin spacing and frontal velocity) ranging from 100 to 1,000. It is found that the EHD enhancement is more effective for lower Re and higher applied voltage. The case of staggered tube pitch with square wire electrode arrangement gives the best heat transfer augmentation. For V_E=16 kV and Re = 100, this study identifies a maximum improvement of 218% in the average Nusselt number and a reduction in fin area of 56% as compared that without EHD enhancement.     

Pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of turbulent flow in annular tubes with internal wave-like longitudinal fins

Measured were pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics with uniform axial heat input using air as the working fluid in both the entrance and fully developed regions of annular tubes with wave-like longitudinal fins. Five series of experiments were performed for turbulent flow and heat transfer in the annular tubes with number of waves equal to 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20, respectively. The test tube has a double-pipe structure with the inner blocked tubes as an insertion. The wave-like fins are in the annulus and span its full width. The friction factor and Nusselt number in the fully developed region were obtained. The friction factor and Nusselt number can be well corrected by a power-law correction in the Reynolds number range tested. In order to evaluate the thermal performance of the longitudinal finned tubes over a plain circular tube, comparisons were made under three conditions: (1) identical pumping power; (2) identical pressure drop and (3) identical mass flow. It was found that under the three constraints all the wave-like finned tubes can enhance heat transfer with the tube with wave number 20 being superior. Finally, discussion on the enhancement mechanism is conducted and a general correlation for the fully developed heat transfer is provided, which can cover all the fifty data of the five tubes with a mean deviation of 9.3%.     

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of heat transfer and fluid flow in a microchannel with nanofluids

Mathematical modeling is performed to simulate forced convection flow of 47 nm- Al₂O₃/water nanofluids in a microchannel using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Single channel flow and conjugate heat transfer problem are taken into consideration and the heat transfer rate using a nanofluid is examined. Simulations are conducted at low Reynolds numbers (2 ≤ Re ≤ 16). The computed average Nusselt number, which is associated with the thermal conductivity of nanofluid, is in the range of 0.6 ￡ [`(Nu)] ￡ 13 0.6 \le \overline{Nu} \le 13 . Results indicate that the average Nusselt number increases with the increase of Reynolds number and particle volume concentration. The fluid temperature distribution is more uniform with the use of nanofluid than that of pure water. Furthermore, great deviations of computed Nusselt numbers using different models associated with the physical properties of a nanofluid are revealed. The results of LBM agree well with the classical CFD method for predictions of flow and heat transfer in a single channel and a microchannel heat sink concerning the conjugate heat transfer problem, and consequently LBM is robust and promising for practical applications.     

Direct numerical simulation of turbulent flow and heat transfer in a square duct with natural convection

In this paper, a direct numerical simulation of a fully developed turbulent flow and heat transfer are studied in a square duct with an imposed temperature difference between the vertical walls and the perfectly insulated horizontal walls. The natural convection is considered on the cross section in the duct. The numerical scheme employs a time-splitting method to integrate the three dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equation. The unsteady flow field was simulated at a Reynolds number of 400 based on the Mean friction velocity and the hydraulic diameter (Re _m = 6200), while the Prandtl number (Pr) is assumed 0.71. Four different Grashof numbers (Gr = 10⁴, 10⁵, 10⁶ and 10⁷) are considered. The results show that the secondary flow and turbulent characteristics are not affected obviously at lower Grashof number (Gr ≤ 10⁵) cases, while for the higher Grashof number cases, natural convection has an important effect, but the mean flow and mean temperature at the cross section are also affected strongly by Reynolds stresses. Compared with the laminar heat transfer at the same Grashof number, the intensity of the combined heat transfer is somewhat decreased.     

Magnetic field effect on heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of blood flow in multi-stenosis arteries

Heat and fluid flow characteristics of blood flow in multi-stenosis arteries in the presence of magnetic field is considered. A mathematical model of the multi-stenosis inside the arteries is introduced. A finite difference scheme is used to solve the governing equations in terms of vorticity-stream function along with their boundary conditions. The effect of magnetic field and the degree of stenosis on wall shear stress and Nusselt number is investigated. It was found that magnetic field modifies the flow patterns and increases the heat transfer rate. The severity of the stenosis affects the wall shear stress characteristics significantly. The magnetic field torque will increase the thermal boundary layer thickness and the temperature gradient in the streaming blood, and hence increasing the local Nusselt number     

Velocity field and heat transfer in a vortex flow exchanger

This study deals with the flow of newtonian and non-newtonian fluids, inside a cylindrical flat cavity, provided with a tangential injection device, model of heat exchangers with spiral flow.The dynamic analysis which requires essentially a laser Doppler velocimeter focusses on the determination of the velocity field and brings out the existence of secondary flows which are important for heat transfer.In turbulent regime, the law of exchange agrees with the Chilton-Colburn analogy. On the other hand, for laminar flow, it becomes necessary to include the variations with temperature of the consistency (K); the Nusselt number (Nu) not only depends on the flow rate, but also on the density of transferred heat flux.

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Geschwindigkeitsfeld und Wärmeübertragung in einem Wärmeüberträger mit spiralförmiger Strömung

Zusammenfassung Diese Studie betrifft die Strömung von Newton'schen oder Nicht-Newton'schen Flüssigkeiten innerhalb eines flachen zylindrischen Hohlraumes, der mit einem tangentialen Einspritzungssystem versehen ist und als Modell für Wärmeaustauscher mit spiralförmiger Strömung dient.Die dynamische Analyse, die das Laser-Dopplerverfahren (Laser-Velocimetrie) erfordert, kennzeichnet das Geschwindigkeitsfeld und beweist die Existenz von Sekundärströmungen, die für die Wärmeübertragung wichtig sind.Für den turbulenten Betrieb folgt das Gesetz des Wärmeaustausches der Chilton-Colburn Analogie. Was den laminaren Betrieb angeht, wird es erforderlich, die Variationen der BeschaffenheitK mit der Temperatur zu berücksichtigen. Die Nusseltsche Zahl hängt natürlich vom dynamischen Betrieb ebenso wie von der übertragenen Leistung ab.

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Nomenclature Nu=[/S T]D _h/ Nusselt number - Re=V ₀ D _h/ Reynolds number - Re _g=V ₀ ^2–n D _n ^h /K generalized Reynolds number - Pr=C _p / Prandtl number - Pr _g=C _p[V ₀/D _h] ^n–1 K/ generalized Prandtl number - H height of cylinders (m) - H dimension of the entrance device (m) - S ₁ tested section - S ₂ tested section - shear stress (Pa) - K consistency (Pa s ⁿ ) - shear rate (s^–1) - n power law index - a, b constants in the consistency formulaK=a exp [–b t] - a, b constants in the rheological indexn=a exp [b T] - T, T _e,T _p temperature, inlet temp., wall temp. - p pressure (Pa) - p pressure drop (Pa) - V velocity vector (components:V ₁,V ₂,V ₃) (m/s) - V ₀ mean velocity (m/s) - X ₁,X ₂,X ₃ cylindrical coordinate system - C _f friction factor - R ₁,R ₂ radius (m) - heat flux (W) - thermal conductivity (W/(m °C)) - C _p specific heat of fluid (J/(kg C°)) - dynamic viscosity (Pa s) - Q _v volumic flow rate (m³/s) - =/S heat flux density (W/m²) - S exchange area (m²)     

Direct numerical simulation of fluid flow laden with many particles

Two-dimensional channel flow of fluid laden with many particles is studied by direct numerical simulation using the Navier–Stokes equation coupled with the equation of motion for respective particles. Fractional four-step method with Crank–Nicolson scheme and ALE technique is adopted for P2P1 mixed finite element formulation of the governing equations for fluid motion. The motion and distribution of particles in the fluid is virtually described and the calculated relative viscosity is compared with previous results within the limits of possibility. The effect of the ratio of channel gap to particle diameter on the relative viscosity and the tubular pinch effect are also delineated.     

Numerical investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics inside a wavy channel

The periodically fully developed laminar heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics inside a two-dimensional wavy channel in a compact heat exchanger have been numerically investigated. Calculations were performed for Prandtl number 0.7, and Reynolds number ranging from 100 to 1,100 on non-orthogonal non-staggered grid systems, based on SIMPLER algorithm in the curvilinear body-fitted coordinates. Effects of wavy heights, lengths, wavy pitches and channel widths on fluid flow and heat transfer were studied. The results show that overall Nusselt numbers and friction factors increase with the increase of Reynolds numbers. According to the local Nusselt number distribution along channel wall, the heat transfer may be greatly enhanced due to the wavy characteristics. In the geometries parameters considered, friction factors and overall Nusselt number always increase with the increase of wavy heights or channel widths, and with the decrease of wavy lengths or wavy pitches. Especially the overall Nusselt number significantly increase with the increase of wavy heights or channel widths, where the flow may become into transition regime with a penalty of strongly increasing in pressure drop. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Flow and heat transfer between plates with longitudinal fins

Laminar, fully developed flow and heat transfer between parallel plates with longitudinal fins are analyzed. A modified eigenfunction expansion and point-match method gives highly accurate results. The resistance productf Re and Nusselt numbers for bothH1 andH2 problems are determined as a function of fin length and spacing. It is possible to decrease both size and weight of the heat exchanger by the addition of fins.     

Heat and mass transfer characteristics of organic sorbent coated on heat transfer surface of a heat exchanger

This paper describes heat and mass transfer characteristics of organic sorbent coated on heat transfer surface of a fin-tube heat exchanger. The experiments in which the moist air was passed into the heat exchanger coated with sorption material were conducted under various conditions of air flow rate (0.5–1.0 m/s) and the temperature of brine (14–20°C) that was the heat transfer fluid to cool the air flow in the dehumidifying process. It is found that the sorption rate of vapor is affected by the air flow rate and the brine temperature. Meanwhile, the attempt of clarifying the sorption mechanism is also conducted. Finally the average mass transfer coefficient of the organic sorbent coated on heat transfer surface of a fin-tube heat exchanger is non-dimensionalzed as a function of Reynolds number and non-dimensional temperature, and it is found that the effect of non-dimensional temperature on them is larger than Reynolds number .     

Effect of cavity aspect ratio on flow and heat transfer characteristics in pipes: a numerical study

Using the standard k–ε turbulence model, a two-dimensional turbulent pipe flow was simulated with and without square cavities. Effect of cavity aspect ratio on flow and heat transfer characteristics was investigated. Uncertainty was approximated through experimental validation and grid independence. The simulation revealed circulation inside the cavities. Cavity boundaries were shown to contribute significantly toward turbulence production. Cavity presence was shown to enhance overall heat transfer through the wall, while increasing pressure drop significantly across the pipe. It was predicted that cavities with higher aspect ratio enhance heat transfer more while increasing pressure drop.     

Groove geometry effects on turbulent heat transfer and fluid flow

The present work represents a two-dimensional numerical prediction of forced turbulent flow heat transfer through a grooved tube. Four geometric groove shapes (circular, rectangular, trapezoidal and triangular) were selected to perform the study, as well as two aspect ratios of groove-depth to tube diameter (e/D = 0.1 and 0.2). The study focuses on the influence of the geometrical shapes of grooves and groove-depth on heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics for Reynolds number ranging from 10,000 to 20,000. The characteristics of Nusselt number, friction factor and entropy generation are studied numerically by the aid of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) commercial code of FLUENT. It is observed that the best performance occurs with the lower depth-groove ratio, whereas it is found that the grooved tube provides a considerable increase in heat transfer at about 64.4 % over the smooth tube and a maximum gain of 1.52 on thermal performance factor is obtained for the triangular groove with (e/D = 0.1).     

An experimental and numerical investigation of air side heat transfer and flow characteristics on finned plate configuration

In this paper, a new type of finned plate heat exchanger (FPHE) is presented to recover the waste heat from exhaust flue gases. A finned plate configuration causes low pressure drop and it is especially appropriate for heat transfer at the flue gas side. Meanwhile, this paper presents a detailed experimental and numerical study of convection heat transfer and pressure drop of the new structure. Three-dimensional numerical simulation results using the CFD code FLUENT6.3 were compared with experimental data to select the best model. The heat transfer and pressure drop with different geometry pattern was then studied numerically using the selected model. And the velocity field and temperature distribution of air flow in the finned plate channel are presented with different geometry patterns. These results provide insight into improved designs of FPHEs.