Numerical simulation of turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of heated blocks in the channel with an oscillating cylinder

In this study, numerical simulations have been carried out to investigate the influence of transient flow field structures, and the heat transfer characteristics of heated blocks in the channel with a transversely oscillating cylinder. To solve the interaction problems between liquid and solid interface in the simulations, a Galerkin finite element formulation with Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method (ALE) is adopted.The main parameters in the study are Reynolds numbers (Re = 800–8000), dimensionless oscillating frequencies (F = 0.1–0.4), dimensionless amplitudes (L = 0.05–0.4). The results of numerical simulations show that the oscillating cylinder induces the flow vibration. This phenomenon disturbs the flow and thermal fields in the channel flow, and the heat transfer rate in the channel would be enhanced. Furthermore, the resonance effect of channel flow and oscillating cylinder can be observed as the oscillating frequency of the cylinder approach to the vortex shedding frequency. Due to the phenomenon of resonance in the channel flow, the heat transfer rate is enhanced more remarkably. In the studied ranges, the results show that the optimum dimensionless cylinder oscillating frequency and dimensionless amplitude value are 0.21 and 0.1 and that the heat transfer from heated blocks is enhanced as the oscillating frequency of the cylinder is in a lock-in region.     

Heat transfer enhancement in a slot channel via a transversely oscillating adiabatic circular cylinder

Heat transfer enhancement in a uniformly heated slot channel due to vortices shed from a transversely oscillating adiabatic circular cylinder is investigated. Effects of the cylinder motion and vortex shedding on heat transfer are systematically assessed by varying the cylinder oscillation frequency from 75% to 125% of the natural vortex shedding frequency of a fixed cylinder within the same domain. Numerical simulations at Re = 100 and 0.1 ? Pr ? 10 are performed using spectral element discretization of Navier-Stokes and energy equations in a moving domain based on an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation. Results within the thermally developing flow region show heat transfer enhancement due to the placement of a stationary cylinder compared to the straight channel case. Transverse oscillations of the cylinder further increase the wall heat transfer coefficient. Pumping power in the channel and the power necessary to oscillate the cylinder is also provided for comparisons. Cylinder oscillations with 75% of the natural vortex shedding frequency is shown to yield the best results with only 10% more power to pump the fluid, compared with the fixed cylinder case.     

Laminar convective heat transfer from a circular cylinder exposed to a low frequency zero-mean velocity oscillating flow

Heat transfer characteristics of a circular cylinder exposed to a slowly oscillating flow with zero-mean velocity were investigated. The flow oscillation amplitude and frequency were changed in the range where the flow remains laminar and fluid particle travels back and forth over much larger distance compared to the cylinder diameter. The time- and space-averaged Nusselt number was measured by transient method, while two-dimensional numerical simulation was conducted to discuss the instantaneous flow and thermal fields around the cylinder. It was found that the time- and space-averaged Nusselt number can be correlated with the oscillating Reynolds number and Richardson number. Unique heat transfer characteristics under oscillating flow condition can be seen at the phases when the cross-sectional mean velocity is small or increasing from small value. During such period, heat transfer can be enhanced due to the local fluid motion induced by the vortices around the cylinder, which once moved away but returned back by the reversed flow. This heat transfer enhancement, however, is countered by the local warming effect of the hot vortices clinging around the cylinder at such phases.     

Augmentation of heat transfer from a solid cylinder wrapped with a porous layer

In the present study, the heat transfer from a porous wrapped solid cylinder is considered. The heated cylinder is placed horizontally and is subjected to a uniform cross-flow. The aim is to investigate the heat transfer augmentation through the inclusion of a porous wrapper. The porous layer is of foam material with high porosity and thermal conductivity. The mixed convection is studied for different values of flow parameters such as Reynolds number (based on radius of solid cylinder and stream velocity), Grashof number, permeability and thermal conductivity of the porous material. The optimal value of porous layer thickness for heat transfer augmentation and its dependence on other properties of the porous foam is obtained. The flow field is analyzed through a single domain approach in which the porous layer is considered as a pseudo-fluid and the composite region as a continuum. A pressure correction based iterative algorithm is used for computation. Our results show that a thin porous wrapper of high thermal conductivity can enhance the rate of heat transfer substantially. Periodic vortex shedding is observed from the porous shrouded solid cylinder for high values of Reynolds number. The frequency of oscillation due to vortex shedding is dampened due to the presence of the porous coating. Beyond a critical value of the porous layer thickness, the average rate of heat transfer approaches asymptotically the value corresponding to the case where the heated cylinder is embedded in an unbounded porous medium.     

Natural convection heat transfer in the open space between two horizontal circular planes with different temperatures

A vertical cylinder maintained at room temperature is located right above a horizontal circular heated plane to constitute a narrow air space between the plane and the cylinder bottom surface. Natural convection heat transfer in the space is experimentally investigated. Average heat transfer coefficients of the heated plane are presented with the variation of space distance and Rayleigh number, and are compared with the predictions of the correlation equations which have been proposed for the space between two infinite parallel plates. Visualized flow patterns above the heated plane are also shown. The relation between the flow pattern and the heat transfer coefficient is discussed to clarify the mechanism of heat transfer in the narrow space. As a result, a heat transfer correlation is proposed, which is applicable over a wide range of space distances. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 30(6): 521–531, 2001     

Forced Convection Film Boiling Heat Transfer Over a Vertical Cylinder

The knowledge of subcooled film boiling heat transfer is important as the basis of understanding the reflooding phenomenon during emergency cooling in a nuclear reactor under a loss-of-coolant accident. In this study, forced convection film boiling heat transfer from a vertical cylinder in Freon-113 flowing upward along the cylinder was measured for the flow velocities ranging from 0 to 1.3 m/s, and liquid subcoolings ranging from 0 to 20 K at pressures near atmospheric. A platinum heater with a diameter of 3 mm was heated by electric current. The heat transfer coefficients obtained are almost independent of vertical positions on the cylinder. The heat transfer coefficients are almost independent of velocity for the velocities lower than about 1 m/s and become higher for the velocities higher than 1 m/s. The heat transfer coefficients at each velocity are higher for higher liquid subcoolings. Improvement of film boiling heat transfer from the vertical cylinder with the increase in flow velocity is much less than that of horizontal cylinder in cross flow previously reported by the authors. This is mainly due to the difference of heat transfer enhancement mechanism; the former is the drag force on vapor flow acted by a liquid flow, and the latter is the pressure gradient near the front stagnation point caused by external potential flow.     

Natural convection around a horizontal heated cylinder: The effects of vertical confinement

The effect of vertical confinement on the natural convection flow and heat transfer around a horizontal heated cylinder is investigated. The flow characteristics and the time-resolved heat transfer have been measured respectively above and around the cylinder. It is shown that the primary effect of the vertical confinement is an increase in heat flux on the upper part of the cylinder for given separation distances between the cylinder and the fluid boundary. This increase is shown to be related to the large-scale oscillation of the thermal plume. The relationship between the flow pattern and the heat transfer characteristics at the cylinder surface is studied and the origin of the oscillation discussed.     

Synthetic and Continuous Jets Impinging on a Circular Cylinder

Synthetic and continuous water jets impinging onto an electrically heated circular cylinder were experimentally investigated. The slot nozzle width was 0.36 mm, the cylinder diameter was 1.2 mm, and the cylinder-to-nozzle spacing related to the slot width was 5–21. Two optical methods were used: qualitative laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) visualization and laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) measurements. Simultaneously with the optical experiments, the overall convective heat transfer from the circular cylinder was evaluated. The LDV quantified the velocity of the oscillating piezo-driven diaphragm at frequencies from 30 to 68 Hz. A majority of the study was performed at the near-resonant frequencies from 46 to 49 Hz. For all investigated jets, the Reynolds numbers based on the nozzle width ranged from 36 to 171. The LIF visualization revealed a dominant flow separation occurring on the windward cylinder side. This result is attributed to the effect of the miniscales, a relatively small ratio of the nozzle width to the cylinder diameter, and low Reynolds numbers. An increase in the Reynolds number changes the flow pattern from a steady jet-flow separation to a vortex shedding wake-flow regime. The heat transfer experiments were validated in a natural convection regime. An enhancement of the average Nusselt numbers by 4.2–6.2 times by means of the synthetic jets was quantified by comparison with the natural convection regime. A correlation for the average Nusselt number was proposed for both the continuous and synthetic jets.     

Experimental study of the natural convection flow around an array of heated horizontal cylinders

Natural convection heat transfer from an array of heated cylinders has recently attracted much attention. However, in almost all of the investigations, attention has been restricted to the influence of geometrical parameters on the overall heat transfer. The present work deals with an experimental study of natural convection flow from a vertical array of two heated horizontal cylinders. A detailed analysis of the local temperature and velocity fields is performed. The modifications of the average Nusselt number evolution compared with the single cylinder are explained in terms of velocity and temperature fields of the flow around the cylinders. Results that are obtained for a variety of combinations of spacings and Rayleigh numbers are compared with known numerical results. The comparison shows a satisfactory agreement.     

Laminar combined magnetoconvection in a wavy enclosure with the effect of heat conducting cylinder

In the current work, a numerical study of the flow characteristics on combined magnetoconvection in a lid-driven square enclosure, differentially heated, is carried out. This problem is solved by using finite element method of the partial differential equations, which are the heat transfer and stream function in Cartesian coordinates. The tests are performed for different solid–fluid thermal conductivity ratio, cylinder location and Richardson number while the Prandtl number, Reynolds number, magnetic and Joule heating parameters are kept constant. One geometrical configuration is used namely two undulations. The outcome obtained shows that the heat conducting inner square cylinder affects the flow and the heat transfer rate in the enclosure. The trend of the local heat transfer is found to follow a wavy pattern. Results are presented in terms of streamlines, isotherms, average Nusselt number at the heated wavy wall, average temperature of the fluid in the enclosure and dimensionless temperature at the cylinder center for different combinations of the governing parameters.     

Numerical study on natural convection in a square enclosure containing a rectangular heated cylinder

In this paper, the natural convection in a square enclosure with a rectangular heated cylinder is investigated via the lattice Boltzmann method. A detailed study is conducted on the effect of the cylinder width and the Rayleigh number on the fluid flow and heat transfer. The flow structures and heat transfer patterns are classified into eight buoyant regimes, i.e., four steady regimes, two periodic regimes, one multiple periodic regime, and one chaos regime, two of which are reported for the first time.     

Numerical study on natural convection in a square enclosure containing a rectangular heated cylinder

In this paper, the natural convection in a square enclosure with a rectangular heated cylinder is investigated via the lattice Boltzmann method. A detailed study is conducted on the effect of the cylinder width and the Rayleigh number on the fluid flow and heat transfer. The flow structures and heat transfer patterns are classified into eight buoyant regimes, i.e., four steady regimes, two periodic regimes, one multiple periodic regime, and one chaos regime, two of which are reported for the first time.     

Laminar forced convection from a rotating horizontal cylinder in cross flow

The influence of non-dimensional rotational velocity, flow Reynolds number and Prandtl number of the fluid on laminar forced convection from a rotating horizontal cylinder subject to constant heat flux boundary condition is numerically investigated. The numerical simulations have been conducted using commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics package CFX available in ANSYS Workbench 14. Results are presented for the non-dimensional rotational velocity α ranging from 0 to 4, flow Reynolds number from 25 to 40 and Prandtl number of the fluid from 0.7 to 5.4. The rotational effects results in reduction in heat transfer compared to heat transfer from stationary heated cylinder due to thickening of boundary layer as consequence of the rotation of the cylinder. Heat transfer rate increases with increase in Prandtl number of the fluid.     

On the combined influence of Reynolds number and cylinder spacing for flow around a row of heated square cylinders

The characteristics of forced convection heat transfer across a row of heated square cylinders kept in side-by-side arrangement are numerically investigated to examine the combined effects of Reynolds number and cylinder spacing for Ri = 0, 60 ≤ Re ≤ 160, Pr = .71, and s/d = 1.0–8.0, where the space between cylinder surfaces is s and the cylinder size is d. A numerical study was carried out using the thermal lattice Boltzmann method. The goal of this work is to explore the transitions in heat transfer phenomenon that occurs behind the cylinder and to report the corresponding regimes for heat transfer namely synchronous, quasiperiodic, and chaotic. The proposed regime of heat flow is a function of Reynolds number and spacing. The synchronous heat regime is obtained for s/d ≥ 5.0 and quasiperiodic, chaotic regimes are observed for 3.0 ≤ s/d < 5.0, s/d < 3.0, respectively at Re = 100. The instantaneous isotherms, the power spectra of the corresponding Nusselt number signals, and the significance of cylinder Nusselt number frequency are used to examine these heat flow regimes. The heat transfer regimes for a row of heated cylinders and flow regimes for a row of unheated cylinders both have comparable appearances except for the fact that the heat transfer regime is synchronous at s/d ≥ 5.0 and flow is synchronous at s/d ≥ 4.0. The chaotic or quasiperiodic heat transfer regimes occur due to merging and strong interactions between thermal blobs shed from the cylinders. Heat transfer is synchronous at a higher spacing and characterized by independent thermal blobs shedded from the cylinders. It is reported that as spacing reduces and Reynolds number increases, the mean value of the Nusselt number experienced by all cylinders increases. The important outcome of the present numerical work is that for understanding heat transfer from bluff body, the transitions that occur in heat transfer are useful.     

Dynamics and heat transfer in a quasi-two-dimensional MHD flow past a circular cylinder in a duct at high Hartmann number

The fluid flow and heat transfer of a liquid metal past a circular cylinder in a rectangular duct (width-to-height aspect ratio of 2) under a strong transverse magnetic field is studied numerically using a quasi-two-dimensional model. Transition from steady to unsteady flow regimes is determined as a function of Hartmann number and blockage ratio, as are Strouhal number, and the heat transfer from the heated wall to the fluid. Downstream cross-stream mixing induced by the cylinder wake was found to increase heat transfer by more than a factor of two in some cases.     

Heat transfer enhancement in a horizontal channel by the addition of curved deflectors

This paper presents the heat transfer and fluid dynamics analysis of a horizontal channel formed by parallel plates with periodic insertions of heated blocks, having curved deflectors to direct the flow. The heat transfer coefficient investigated is compared with that of the horizontal channel without deflectors. The aim of the deflectors is to lead the fluid to the space between the heated blocks increasing the dynamics in this area. This zone will normally, without deflectors, become a stagnant fluid zone in which low energy transfer rate occurs. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient is larger as compared to that of the case without deflectors. The increment in the heat transfer coefficient is due primarily to the fluid motion stirred in the area between the heated block due to the deflectors. However, it must be pointed out, this implementation also increases the pressure drop in the channel.     

Two-dimensional laminar fluid flow and heat transfer in a channel with a built-in heated square cylinder

A numerical investigation was conducted to analyze the unsteady flow field and heat transfer characteristics in a horizontal channel with a built-in heated square cylinder. Hydrodynamic behavior and heat transfer results are obtained by the solution of the complete Navier–Stokes and energy equations using a control volume finite element method (CVFEM) adapted to the staggered grid. The Computation was made for two channel blockage ratios (β=1/4 and 1/8), different Reynolds and Richardson numbers ranging from 62 to 200 and from 0 to 0.1 respectively at Pr=0.71. The flow is found to be unstable when the Richardson number crosses the critical value of 0.13. The results are presented to show the effects of the blockage ratio, the Reynolds and the Richardson numbers on the flow pattern and the heat transfer from the square cylinder. Heat transfer correlation are obtained through forced and mixed convection.