Laminar flow development and heat transfer in converging plane-walled channels

The characteristics of flow development and heat transfer in converging plane-walled channels are studied by the finite difference method. The velocity and temperature profiles in both angular and radial directions, the average Nusselt number and the pressure drop are calculated for three different taper angles. The results show that the transport process is governed by three parameters: the inlet Reynolds number, the Péclet number and the taper angle. The increase of the taper angle yields an increase of the Nusselt number and a decrease of the pressure drop.