Heat Transfer of Turbulent Gaseous Flow in Microtubes with Constant Wall Temperature

Experiments were conducted with nitrogen gas flow in two microtubes with constant wall temperature, made of stainless-steel and copper with diameters of 524 and 537 micrometers, to measure the total temperature at the inlet and outlet and quantitively determine the heat transfer rates. The temperature differences between the inlet and the wall were maintained at 3, 5 and 10 K by circulating water around the inlet and the wall. The stagnation pressures were controlled such that the flow with atmospheric back pressure reached Reynolds numbers as high as 26000. To measure the total temperature, a polystyrene tube with thermally insulated exterior wall containing six plastic baffles, was attached to the outlet. Heat transfer rates were obtained from the gas enthalpy difference by using the pressures and the total temperatures measured at the inlet and outlet. Heat transfer rates were also compared with those obtained from the ideal gas enthalpy using the measured total temperatures and from the Nusselt number for incompressible flow. It was found that the measured total temperature at the microtube outlet was higher than the wall temperature. Also, the heat transfer rates calculated from the total temperature difference were higher than the values obtained from the incompressible flow theory.