Effect of Discrete Heating on Natural Convection in a Rectangular Porous Enclosure

The main objective of this article is to study the effect of discrete heating on free convection heat transfer in a rectangular porous enclosure containing a heat-generating substance. The left wall of the enclosure has two discrete heat sources and the right wall is isothermally cooled at a lower temperature. The top and bottom walls, and the unheated portions of the left wall are adiabatic. The vorticity–stream function formulation of the governing equations is numerically solved using an implicit finite difference method. The effects of aspect ratio, Darcy number, heat source length, and modified Rayleigh number on the flow and heat transfer are analyzed. The numerical results reveal that the rate of heat transfer increases as the modified Rayleigh number and the Darcy number increases, but decreases on increasing the aspect ratio. The average heat transfer rate is found to be higher at the bottom heater than at the top heater in almost all considered parameter cases except for ε = 0.5. Also, the maximum temperature takes place generally at the top heater except for the case ε = 0.5, where the maximum temperature is found at the bottom heater. Further, the numerical results reveal that the maximum temperature decreases with the modified Rayleigh number and increases with the aspect ratio.     

A Modified Nested-Gridding for Upscaling–Downscaling in Reservoir Simulation

This article reports a numerical study of double-diffusive convection in a fluid-saturated vertical porous annulus subjected to discrete heat and mass fluxes from a portion of the inner wall. The outer wall is maintained at uniform temperature and concentration, while the top and bottom walls are adiabatic and impermeable to mass transfer. The physical model for the momentum equation is formulated using the Darcy law, and the resulting governing equations are solved using an implicit finite difference technique. The influence of physical and geometrical parameters on the streamlines, isotherms, isoconcentrations, average Nusselt and Sherwood numbers has been numerically investigated in detail. The location of heat and solute source has a profound influence on the flow pattern, heat and mass transfer rates in the porous annulus. For the segment located at the bottom portion of inner wall, the flow rate is found to be higher, whereas the heat and mass transfer rates are higher when the source is placed near the middle of the inner wall. Further, the average Sherwood number increases with Lewis number, while for the average Nusselt number the effect is opposite. The average Nusselt number increases with radius ratio (λ); however, the average Sherwood number increases with radius ratio only up to λ = 5, and for λ > 5 , the average Sherwood number does not increase significantly.     

Conjugate heat transfer within a concentric annulus filled with micropolar fluid

This paper investigates numerically the conjugate heat transfer in an annulus between two concentric cylinders. The annulus contains micropolar fluid and is heated isothermally from its inner wall. The effect of Rayleigh number, thickness of inner wall, inner wall-fluid thermal conductivity ratio, and material parameters of micropolar fluid on heat transfer rate within the annulus has been investigated. The study has shown that for low Rayleigh number regimes and for thermal conductivity of the inner wall greater than that of the fluid, the increase of inner wall thickness increases the heat transfer rate through the annulus and vice versa. While for convection dominating regimes Ra ≥ 10⁴ the increase of inner wall thickness decreases the heat transfer rate. Moreover, the study has shown that for fixed geometrical and flow parameters the heat transfer decreases in case of micropolar fluids in comparison with that of Newtonian fluids.     

Transient natural convection between concentric and vertically eccentric spheres with mixed boundary conditions

Transient analysis has been investigated numerically to determine heat transfer by natural convection between concentric and vertically eccentric spheres with constant heat flux on the inner wall and a specified isothermal temperature on the outer wall. The governing equations, in terms of vorticity, stream function and temperature are expressed in a spherical polar coordinate system. The alternating direction implicit method and the successive over-relaxation techniques are applied to solve the finite difference form of governing equations. A physical model is introduced which accounts for the effects of fluid buoyancy as well as eccentricity of the outer sphere. Transient solutions of the entire flow field are obtained for a range of modified Rayleigh number (10³<Ra?<5×10⁵), for a Prandtl number of 0.7 and a radius ratio of 2.0, with the outer sphere near the top and bottom of the inner sphere (ε=±0.625). Results of the parametric study conducted further reveal that the heat and flow fields are primarily dependent on the modified Rayleigh number and the eccentricity of the spherical annulus. The results of average Nusselt numbers are also compared with the results obtained for flow between two isothermal spheres.     

Unsteady numerical simulation of double diffusive convection heat transfer in a pulsating horizontal heating annulus

A numerical study is conducted on time-dependent double-diffusive natural convection heat transfer in a horizontal annulus. The inner cylinder is heated with sinusoidally-varying temperature while the outer cylinder is maintained at a cold constant temperature. The numerical procedure used in the present work is based on the Galerkin weighted residual method of finite-element formulation by incorporating a non-uniform mesh size. Comparisons with previous studies are performed and the results show excellent agreement. In addition, the effects of pertinent dimensionless parameters such as the thermal Rayleigh number, Buoyancy ratio, Lewis number, and the amplitude of the thermal forcing on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are considered in the present study. Furthermore, the amplitude and frequency of the heated inner cylinder is found to cause significant augmentation in heat transfer rate. The predictions of the temporal variation of Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are obtained and discussed.     

正弦波温度边界下多孔介质方腔内非热平衡对流传热数值模拟

采用局部非热平衡模型,在方腔左侧壁面温度正弦波变化、右侧壁面温度均一的边界条件下,通过SIM-PLER算法数值研究了固体骨架发热多孔介质方腔内的稳态非达西自然对流,主要探讨了不同正弦波波动参数N及方腔的高宽比M/L对方腔内自然对流与传热的影响规律。计算结果表明:正弦波温度边界使得方腔内的流场出现了复杂的变化,流体及固体区域左侧壁面附近出现了周期性的正负变化的温度场分布,左侧壁面局部Nusselt数出现了周期性的震荡现象;存在一个最佳温度波动参数N=1,此时多孔介质方腔内的整体散热量达到最大值;增加方腔高宽比会显著地削弱方腔内的自然对流传热过程,小高宽比也会在一定的程度上削弱多孔介质方腔内的对流传热。     

Experimental studies of a double-pipe helical heat exchanger

An experimental study of a double-pipe helical heat exchanger was performed. Two heat exchanger sizes and both parallel flow and counterflow configurations were tested. Flow rates in the inner tube and in the annulus were varied and temperature data recorded. Overall heat transfer coefficients were calculated and heat transfer coefficients in the inner tube and the annulus were determined using Wilson plots. Nusselt numbers were calculated for the inner tube and the annulus. The inner Nusselt number was compared to the literature values. Though the boundary conditions were different, a reasonable comparison was found. The Nusselt number in the annulus was compared to the numerical data. The experimental data fit well with the numerical for the larger heat exchanger. But, there were some differences between the numerical and experimental data for the smaller coil; however these differences may have been due to the nature of the Wilson plots. Overall, for the most part the results confirmed the validation of previous numerical work.     

Condensation from steam—air mixtures in a horizontal annular flow channel

Experiments were performed on the condensation of steam from steam-air mixtures in annular flow at a cooled inner tube. The range of investigation was varied for laminar and turbulent flow for 1.5 × 10³ Re 1.3 × 10⁴ and inlet concentrations 0.59 p_steam/p_total 0.95. The measurements, performed at an open test loop at p_total ≈ 0.96 bar, allowed local heat and mass transfer coefficients to be evaluated for various inlet lengths in the 2 m long annulus. The steam concentration was measured locally inside the annulus with a newly developed dew-point probe. The heat flux was measured locally using the temperature gradient in the cooled inner tube.

Near the inlet region the experiments showed a slightly higher heat flux at the bottom of the tube compared to the top, although it is expected to be smaller there owing to a thicker liquid film. Far downstream from the inlet region the heat transfer at the top was higher than at the bottom. The reasons for these effects are discussed, yielding a better understanding of the thermal and fluid processes involved in condensation from vapor-gas mixtures. The measured data allow the development of correlations for predicting the local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers in a horizontal annular-flow chanbel.     

Non-isothermal Poiseuille flow and its stability in a vertical annulus filled with porous medium

In this article, the non-isothermal Poiseuille flow and its stability in a vertical annulus filled with porous medium are investigated. The flow is induced by external pressure gradient and buoyancy force due to linearly varying inner wall temperature. The non-Darcy model along with Boussinesq approximation has been used. The Chebyshev spectral-collocation method has been adopted to solve the governing equations related to basic flow as well as its stability. Special attention is given to understand the effect of curvature parameter of the annular geometry on the flow, heat transfer rate and stability of the stably stratified flow. A comprehensive numerical experiment indicates that reducing gap between two concentric cylinders decreases the heat transfer rate as well as the maximum magnitude of the flow velocity. It stabilizes the flow which has been shown through stability analysis. Furthermore, appropriateness of the Forchheimer term in the momentum equation has been examined by investigating the flow regime as well as its stability in the presence and absence of Forchheimer term. Finally, it has been found from the energy analysis at critical point that the thermal-buoyant instability is the only mode of instability for the considered range of different parameters.     

Effect of baffle on convective heat transfer from a heat generating element in a ventilated cavity

This paper reports the results of a numerical and experimental investigation of mixed convection from a heat-generating element in a vented cavity with/without a baffle arrangement. Numerical investigations are carried out to determine the best position of the baffle on the walls of a rectangular chamber. The effect of varying the baffle heights and the position on the enhancement of heat transfer from the heater is investigated. Experiments were carried out for a heater located centrally in a parallelepiped that has an air inlet and an outlet port. The vertical baffle is fixed on the bottom wall of the chamber. After a detailed parametric study, correlations have been developed for the average Nusselt number and the maximum dimensionless temperature occurring in the heat generating element. Comparison of the numerical and experimental results for the geometry considered showed good agreement.     

Analysis of Heat and Mass Transfer in a Vertical Annular Porous Cylinder Using FEM

The present study is intended to study heat and mass transfer in a vertical annular cylinder embedded with saturated porous medium. The inner surface of cylinder is maintained at uniform wall temperature and uniform wall concentration. The governing partial differential equations are non-dimensionalised and solved by using finite element method (FEM). The porous medium is discritised using triangular elements with uneven element size. Large number of smaller-sized elements are placed near the walls of the annulus to capture the smallest variation in solution parameters. The results are reported for both aiding and opposing flows. The effects of various non-dimensional numbers such as buoyancy ratio, Lewis number, Rayleigh number, aspect ratio, etc on heat and mass transfer are discussed. The temperature and concentration profiles are presented.     

Forced Convection Heat Transfer from a Finite-Height Cylinder

This paper presents a large eddy simulation of forced convection heat transfer in the flow around a surface-mounted finite-height circular cylinder. The study was carried out for a cylinder with height-to-diameter ratio of 2.5, a Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter of 44 000 and a Prandtl number of 1. Only the surface of the cylinder is heated while the bottom wall and the inflow are kept at a lower fixed temperature. The approach flow boundary layer had a thickness of about 10% of the cylinder height. Local and averaged heat transfer coefficients are presented. The heat transfer coefficient is strongly affected by the free-end of the cylinder. As a result of the flow over the top being downwashed behind the cylinder, a vortex-shedding process does not occur in the upper part, leading to a lower value of the local heat transfer coefficient in that region. In the lower region, vortex-shedding takes place leading to higher values of the local heat transfer coefficient. The circumferentially averaged heat transfer coefficient is 20 % higher near the ground than near the top of the cylinder. The spreading and dilution of the mean temperature field in the wake of the cylinder are also discussed.     

Heat transfer and flow temperature measurements in a rotating triangular channel with various rib arrangements

In the present study, the regionally-averaged heat transfer coefficients and flow temperature distributions were measured in an equilateral triangular channel with three different rib arrangements (α = 45, 90 and 135°). To measure regionally-averaged heat transfer coefficients in the channel, two rows of copper blocks and a single heater were installed on two ribbed walls. The fluid temperature distributions were obtained using a thermocouple-array. The rotation number ranged from 0.0 to 0.1 with a fixed Reynolds number of 10,000. For the 90° ribs, the heat transfer coefficients on the pressure side surface were increased significantly with rotation, while the suction side surface had lower heat transfer coefficients than the stationary channel. For the angled ribs, rib-induced secondary flow dominated the heat transfer characteristics and high heat transfer rates were observed on the regions near the inner wall for the 45° angled ribs and near the leading edge for the 135° angled ribs.     

Effect of magnetic field on the buoyancy and thermocapillary driven convection of an electrically conducting fluid in an annular enclosure

The main objective of this article is to study the effect of magnetic field on the combined buoyancy and surface tension driven convection in a cylindrical annular enclosure. In this study, the top surface of the annulus is assumed to be free, and the bottom wall is insulated, whereas the inner and the outer cylindrical walls are kept at hot and cold temperatures respectively. The governing equations of the flow system are numerically solved using an implicit finite difference technique. The numerical results for various governing parameters of the problem are discussed in terms of the streamlines, isotherms, Nusselt number and velocity profiles in the annuli. Our results reveal that, in tall cavities, the axial magnetic field suppresses the surface tension flow more effectively than the radial magnetic field, whereas, the radial magnetic field is found to be better for suppressing the buoyancy driven flow compared to axial magnetic field. However, the axial magnetic field is found to be effective in suppressing both the flows in shallow cavities. From the results, we also found that the surface tension effect is predominant in shallow cavities compared to the square and tall annulus. Further, the heat transfer rate increases with radii ratio, but decreases with the Hartmann number.     

Natural convection cooling of a localised heat source at the bottom of a nanofluid-filled enclosure

This article presents a numerical study of natural convection cooling of a heat source embedded on the bottom wall of an enclosure filled with nanofluids. The top and vertical walls of the enclosure are maintained at a relatively low temperature. The transport equations for a Newtonian fluid are solved numerically with a finite volume approach using the SIMPLE algorithm. The influence of pertinent parameters such as Rayleigh number, location and geometry of the heat source, the type of nanofluid and solid volume fraction of nanoparticles on the cooling performance is studied. The results indicate that adding nanoparticles into pure water improves its cooling performance especially at low Rayleigh numbers. The type of nanoparticles and the length and location of the heat source proved to significantly affect the heat source maximum temperature.     

Double diffusive convection of anomalous density fluids in a porous cavity

A numerical study has been performed to analyze the combined effect of temperature and species gradients on the buoyancy-driven natural convection flow of cold water near its density extremum contained in a porous cavity. The governing equations are descretized using the finite volume method. The results of the investigation are presented in the form of steady-state streamlines, velocity vectors, isotherms, and isoconcentrationlines. The results are discussed for different porosities, Darcy numbers, and Grashof numbers. The heat and mass transfer rates calculated are found to behave nonlinearly with hot wall temperature. The heat and mass transfer are increased with increasing Darcy number and porosity. It is found that the convective heat and mass transfer rate are greatly affected by the presence of density maximum.     

Enhanced heat transfer performances of molten salt mixed convection in a vertical annular duct

The mixed convection heat transfer of upward molten salt flow in a vertical annular duct is experimentally and numerically studied. The heat transfer performances of mixed convection are measured under Reynolds number 2,500–12,000 and inlet temperature 300–400 °C, and Nusselt number of molten salt flow with cooled inner wall monotonically increases with buoyancy number. The mixed convection is further simulated by low-Reynolds number k-ε model and variable properties, and the heat transfer tendency from numerical results agrees with that from experiments. At low Reynolds number, the natural convection plays more important role in the mixed convection. As the buoyancy number rises, the thickness of flow boundary layer near the inner wall increases, while the effective thermal conductivity remarkably rises, so the enhanced heat transfer of mixed convection is mainly affected by the effective thermal conductivity due to turbulent diffusion.     

A numerical study of mixed convection in a horizontal channel with a discrete heat source in an open cavity

This article aims to numerically investigate mixed convection heat transfer in a two-dimensional horizontal channel with an open cavity. A discrete heat source is considered to be located on one of the walls of the cavity. Three different heating modes are considered which relate to the location of the heat source on three different walls (left, right and bottom) of the cavity. The analysis is carried out for a range of Richardson numbers and cavity aspect ratios. The results show that there are noticeable differences among the three heating modes. When the heat source is located on the right wall, the cavity with an aspect ratio of two has the highest heat transfer rate compared to other cavity heating modes. Moreover, when the heat source is located on the bottom wall, the flow field in the cavity with an aspect ratio of two experiences a fluctuating behaviour for Richardson number of 10. The results also show that at a fixed value of Richardson number, all three different heating modes show noticeable improvements in the heat transfer mechanism as the cavity aspect ratio increases.     

B平面上斜压波热力结构特性的实验研究

首次用转环实验模拟方法研究了β效应对斜压波热力结构的影响,发现β效应有抑制流动的水平混合和垂直混合的作用,使流动趋于正压;β平面上急流随高度降低而减弱,在急流的内外两侧各有一个无量纲温度值分布的突跃区,它们的空间结构与大气环流中的极锋锋区和北极锋锋区的结构相似。     

Heat transfer and two-phase flow characteristics of refrigerants flowing under varied heat flux in a double-pipe evaporator

A mathematical model based on the annular flow pattern is developed to simulate the evaporation of refrigerants flowing under varied heat flux in a double tube evaporator. The finite difference form of governing equations of this present model is derived from the conservation of mass, energy and momentum. The experimental set-up is designed and constructed to provide the experimental data for verifying the simulation results. The test section is a 2.5 m long counterflow double tube heat exchanger with a refrigerant flowing in the inner tube and heating water flowing in the annulus. The inner tube is made from smooth horizontal copper tubing of 9.53 mm outer diameter and 7.1 mm inner diameter. The agreement of the model with the experimental data is satisfactory. The present model can be used to investigate the axial distributions of the temperature, heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of various refrigerants. Moreover, the evaporation rate or the other relevant parameters that is difficult to measure in the experiment are predicted and presented here. The results from the present mathematical model show that the saturation pressure and temperature of refrigerant decrease along the tube due to the tube wall friction and the flow acceleration of refrigerant. The liquid heat transfer coefficient increases with the axial length due to reducing the thickness of the liquid refrigerant film. Due to increase of the liquid heat transfer coefficient, increasing wall heat flux is obtained.Finally, the evaporation rate of refrigerant increases with increasing wall heat flux.