Effects of rotation on the trailing vortex and heat transfer from a horizontal rotating cylinder at higher Grashof number

In the present study, effects of rotation on the trailing vortex and heat transfer from a large diameter horizontal rotating cylinder in still air have been experimentally investigated whereas earlier studies considered cylinders with smaller diameters. As the rotational speed n is increased, the trailing vortex would deflect in the rotational direction, the flow state of air near the cylinder would vary from laminar to turbulent, the heat transfer would transit from pure natural convection to mixed convection, and finally to pure forced convection resulted from rotation, the trailing vortex would break down and disappear. The variation of deflection angles ω with the parameter $R{e}_r/\sqrt{Gr}$ can be expressed as $w=32.3R{e}_r/\sqrt{Gr}$ at lower rotational speed. The discriminant to determine the disappearance of trailing vortex can be presented as Re_r²/Gr = 7.51.     

Analysis of entropy generation on mixed convection in square enclosures for various horizontal or vertical moving wall(s)

Entropy generation during the mixed convection process have been studied in a square enclosure for various moving horizontal (cases 1a–1d) or vertical wall(s) (cases 2a–2c) where the bottom wall of the cavity is isothermally hot, side walls are cold, and the top wall is adiabatic. Simulations have been performed for Prandtl number Pr = 0.026 and 7.2, Reynolds number Re = 10 − 100, and Grashof number Gr = 10³ − 10⁵. Results show that, in the case of the horizontally moving wall(s) (cases 1a–1d), the overall heat transfer rate $\left(\overline{N{u}_b}\right)$ and total entropy generation (S_total) are identical for cases 1a–1d and the cup-mixing temperature (θ_cup) is high for case 1b at Pr = 0.026, Re = 100, and Gr = 10⁵. Similarly, in the case of the vertically moving wall(s) (cases 2a–2c), $\overline{N{u}_b}$ and S_total are identical for cases 2a–2c with the maximum θ_cup occurring for the case 2a. At Pr = 7.2, Gr = 10⁵, and Re = 10, case 1a and case 1c are preferable for horizontally moving wall(s) and either of case 2a–2c is preferable for vertically moving wall(s). At Pr = 7.2, Gr = 10⁵, and Re = 100, case 1d may be preferable for the horizontally moving wall(s) and case 2a may be preferable for the vertically moving wall(s).     

An experimental study of forced convection effectiveness of Al2O3-water nanofluid flowing in circular tubes

In the present study, experimental efforts have been performed to explore the forced convection heat transfer using water-based suspension of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles (nanofluid) to replace the pure water as the working fluids in circular tubes. The nanofluid was prepared as a functional forced convection fluid and the thermal properties including the density, thermal conductivity, and dynamic viscosity were investigated experimentally. Besides, forced convection heat transfer in circular tubes was investigated with water-based nanofluid containing various mass fractions of the Al₂O₃ nanoparticles (2, 5, and 10 wt%) under the following operating conditions: the volume flow rate Q_f = 23.6–183.5 cm³/min (the Reynolds number Re_f,0 = 188–2095), the heating power applied at the outer wall of the tube q_o , eff.^″ = 1908–7362 W/m², and the inlet fluid temperature T_in = 24.5–25.5 °C or 49.5–50.5 °C. Measured data showed that the dispersion of increasing mass fraction of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles can effectively improve the thermal conductivity relative to the pure water. Besides, higher average heat transfer effectiveness ${\stackrel{-}{\epsilon }}_{h,\mathit{btd}}$ and figure of merit FOM are noted for the cases with higher inlet fluid temperature T_in.     

Synthesis and characterization of spinel Li4Ti5O12 anode material by oxalic acid-assisted sol–gel method

Anode material Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ for lithium-ion batteries has been prepared by a novel sol–gel method with oxalic acid as a chelating agent and Li₂CO₃ and tetrabutyl titanate [Ti(OC₄H₉)₄] as starting materials. Various initial conditions were studied in order to find the optimal conditions for the synthesis of Li₄Ti₅O₁₂. Oxalic acid used in this method functioned as a fuel, decomposed the metal complexes at low temperature and yielded the free impurity Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ compounds. Thermal analyses (TG–DTA) and XRD data show that powders grown with a spinel structure (Fd3m space group) have been obtained at 800 °C for 16 h. SEM analyses indicated that the prepared Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ powders had a uniform cubic morphology with average particle size of 200 nm. The influence of synthesis conditions on the electrochemical properties was investigated and discussed. The discharge capacity of Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ synthesized with an oxalic acid to titanium ratio R = 1.0 was 171 mAh g⁻¹ in the first cycle and 150 mAh g⁻¹ after 35 cycles under an optimal synthesis condition at 800 °C for 20 h. The very flat discharge and charge curves indicated that the electrochemical reaction based on Ti⁴⁺/Ti³⁺redox couple was a typical two-phase reaction.     

Preparation and characterization of high-density spherical Li4Ti5O12 anode material for lithium secondary batteries

Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ is a very promising anode material for lithium secondary batteries. A novel technique has been developed to prepare Li₄Ti₅O₁₂. The spherical precursor is prepared via an “inner gel” method by TiCl₄ as the raw material. Spherical Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ powders are synthesized by sintering the mixture of spherical precursor and Li₂CO₃. The investigation of XRD, SEM and the determination of the electrochemical properties show that the Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ powders prepared by this method are spherical, and have high tap-density and excellent electrochemical performance. It is tested that the tap-density of the product is as high as 1.64 g cm⁻³, which is remarkably higher than the non spherical Li₄Ti₅O₁₂. Between 1.0 and 3.0 V versus Li, a reversible capacity is as high as 161 mAh g⁻¹ at a current density of 0.08 mA cm⁻².     

The performance evaluation of Al2O3/water nanofluid flow and heat transfer in microchannel heat sink

The numerical modeling of the conjugate heat transfer and fluid flow of Al₂O₃/water nanofluid through the microchannel heat sink is presented in the paper. The laminar flow regime was considered along with viscous dissipation effect. The microchannel heat sink with square microchannels and D_h = 50 μm is considered. The heat flux was fixed to q = 35 W/m² with heating and cooling cases. The water based Al₂O₃ nanofluid was encountered with various volume concentrations of Al₂O₃ particles $?=1''–''9\%$ and three diameters of the particle d_p = 13, 28 and 47 nm. The analysis is performed on the results obtained for the local heat transfer coefficients based on a fixed pumping power. The results reveal a different local heat transfer behavior compared to the analysis made on a basis of the constant Re.     

Onset of entrainment in transitional round fountains

It is of fundamental interest to understand the behavior of transitional fountains with intermediate Froude and Reynolds numbers, together with the associated entrainment and turbulence. In this work, the transient behavior of axisymmetric fountains with 1 ? Fr ? 8 and 200 ? Re ? 800 is studied by direct numerical simulation. It is found that at Re ? 200, there is little entrainment present at the upflow–downflow interface and at the downflow–ambient interface, even for a value of Fr as high as 8; however, at Re > 200, entrainment is present at these interfaces and the extent increases with Re, which clearly demonstrates that entrainment is strongly dependent on Re whereas the contribution from the Fr effect is relatively much smaller. The DNS results also show that z_m, which is the maximum fountain penetration height, fluctuates, even when the flow reaches full development, due to the entrainment at the upflow–downflow and the downflow–ambient interfaces, and the averaged z_m scales with ${\mathit{Fr}}^{\frac{3}{2}}{\mathit{Re}}^{\frac{1}{4}}$ for 1 < Fr ? 8 and 100 ? Re ? 800.     

Coriolis and rotating buoyancy effect on detailed heat transfer distributions in a two-pass square channel roughened by 45° ribs at high rotation numbers

Heat transfer measurements from a rotating two-pass square channel with two opposite leading and trailing walls roughened by 45° parallel ribs arranged in the staggered manner are performed to examine the effects of Reynolds (Re), rotation (Ro) and buoyancy (Bu) numbers on local and area-averaged Nusselt numbers (Nu and $\overline{\mathit{Nu}}$). Full-field Nu distributions over the two rib-roughened leading and trailing walls are measured at the conditions of 4000 ? Re ? 16,000, 0 ? Ro ? 0.8 and 0.0015 ? Bu ? 0.93 (0.05 ? Δρ/ρ ? 0.1) using the infrared thermography which allows for the detailed examination of the Coriolis and rotating buoyancy effects on Nu distributions over the rotating ribbed surface. Selected heat transfer data in term of Nu ratio between rotating and stationary levels illustrates the influences of rotation on local and area-averaged heat transfer performances. Area-averaged $\overline{\mathit{Nu}}$ for the turn region and the inlet and outlet ribbed legs of the rotating two-pass channel are parametrically analyzed to devise a set of empirical heat transfer correlations that permits the evaluation of the interdependent and individual effects of Re, Ro and Bu on $\overline{\mathit{Nu}}$.