Effect of Parameters of Rotating Cylinders on the Heat Transfer Advancement

Conjugate pure mixed convection in a differentially heated square cavity with two vertically placed heat conductive revolving cylinders has been analyzed in computational approach applying the Finite Element Method. This analysis has been implemented considering the upper and lower wall as insulated simultaneously and the left vertical wall as heated maintaining constant temperature (i.e., isothermally heated) and the right vertical wall as isothermally cooled. The outcomes of this study have been examined concerning streamlines, isotherms, average Nusselt number (Nu) which unveils a noteworthy fact that both the rotating cylinders' inclination patterns and Reynolds number have a vital role upon the Nu, flow pattern, and isotherms. From that perspective, best heat transfer phenomena have been observed for counterclockwise circulation of both cylinders so that the condition for these cases has been assessed from a distance variation between the two cylinders maintaining a constant speed ratio (s). The best result has been specified for different speed ratios at different materials of the rotating cylinders.

Numerical Analysis of Natural Convection Heat Transfer Inside an Inverted T-Shaped Cavity Filled with Nanofluid

This assessment is centered on the characteristics of natural convection heat transfer of Aluminium Oxide-Air nanofluid inside an inverted T-shaped enclosure with differentially heated sidewalls. The left edges of the enclosed cavity have been treated as a heated wall and are kept at a constant temperature. The right edges are also maintained at a constant temperature but lower than the heated wall. The top and bottom faces of the cavity have been considered adiabatic. The evaluation has been numerically investigated using ANSYS fluent. The effect of different significant parameters like volume fraction of nanoparticles, the shape of the enclosure, and Rayleigh number on the heat transfer characteristics inside an inverted T shape enclosure have been investigated. In this numerical analysis, a series of DNS simulations have been conducted for different Rayleigh numbers in the range of 103 to 106, the volume fraction of particles in the range 0≤ φ ≤0.1, and for the different aspect ratios for the inverted T shape have been conducted. The outcomes of this CFD analysis indicate a remarkable rise in the average heat transfer coefficient with the rising volume fraction of Al2O3 particles in the air. An increase of the average Nusselt number was also observed with the increase of Rayleigh number, but it drops slightly at a higher volume fraction of nanoparticles due to an increase in conductive heat transfer. For Rayleigh numbers ≥ 104, both the average Nusselt number and average heat transfer coefficient decrease up to a certain shape of the cavity aspect ratio. After that cavity aspect ratio, both the parameters value increase. But in the case of Rayleigh number = 103, both of the values decrease with the increase in the cavity aspect ratio.

Effect of Various Tilted Positions of a Thin Fin on Natural Convection of Laminar Viscous Flow in a Square Cavity

An exhaustive numerical investigation is carried out to analyze the role of an isothermal heated thin fin on fluid flow and temperature distribution visualization in an enclosure. Natural convection within square enclosures finds remarkable pragmatic applications. In the present study, a finite difference approach is performed on two-dimensional laminar flow inside an enclosure with cold side walls and adiabatic horizontal walls. The fluid flow equations are reconstructed into vorticity - stream function formulation and these equations are employed utilizing the finite-difference strategy with incremental time steps. The parametric study includes a wide scope of Rayleigh number, Ra, and inclination angle ϴ of the thin fin. The effect of different Rayleigh numbers ranging Ra = 104-106 with Pr=0.71 for all the inclination angles from 0°-360° with uniform rotational length of angle 450 of an inclined heated fin on fluid flow and heat transfer have been investigated. The heat transfer rate within the enclosure is measured by means of local and average Nusselt numbers. Regardless of inclination angles of the thin fin, a slight enhancement in the average Nusselt number is observed when Rayleigh number increased for both the cases of the horizontal and vertical position of the thin fin. When the fin has inclined no change in average Nusselt number is noticed for distinct Rayleigh numbers.

Improvement of Multi-Hole Airflow Impingement on Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics Inside a Turbine Vane Cavity

The cooling effect of turbine vane is of great importance for ensuring thermal protection and economic operation of gas turbines. This study aims to reveal the influence mechanism and performance of impingement cooling and heat transfer within a turbine guide vane cavity. Then, a turbine guide vane cavity with a complex pin fins structure is numerically investigated at a multi-hole impingement by comparison with experiment verification. The results show that the larger the Reynolds number is, the larger the average Nusselt number is on the upper and lower surfaces of the cavity. The average Nusselt number increased on the upper and lower surfaces as the impingement hole diameter increased. Comparing 1 impingement hole with 16 ones, the average Nusselt number of the lower surface of the latter is 553.9% larger than that of the former. Furthermore, the average Nusselt number of the lower surface for pin fin height of 3 mm is only improved by 11.2% for pin fin height of 24 mm. The heat transfer effect near the impingement holes is better than that far away from the impingement holes. In particular, it is recommended to have 14 impingement holes with a hole diameter of 7.2 mm, as well as circular pin fins with a height of 3 mm and spacing of 25.8 mm. In addition, the entropy generation distribution in impingement cooling is analyzed. This study can provide a reference to enhance the turbine vane cooling performance by optimization design.

Modeling of natural convection of a concentrated solar power receiver absorber tube in interaction with neighbouring absorbers

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology stands out among other renewable energy sources not only because of its ability to address current energy security and environmental challenges but because its energy can be stored for future use. To ensure optimum performance in this system, the heat losses need to be evaluated for better design. This work studies the natural convection in the receiver absorber tube of a CSP plant taking into consideration the influence of neighboring absorbers. A 2-Dimensional model was adopted in this study. Initially, a single absorber tube was considered, it was subjected to heat flux at the top wall, the bottom wall was insulated and a temperature differential was set up at the lateral walls. The dimensionless forms of Navier-Stokes and energy equations were solved using the finite element formulation of COMSOL Multiphysics software. The result obtained for a single absorber tube showed good agreement with existing research works. This validated model was then extended to multiple absorber tubes (two to six absorber tubes). On the basis of the study, there is an observed increase in the intensity and dominance of convective heat transfer with an increase in the number of absorber tubes. This is occasioned by an increase in the average surface temperature as well as average Nusselt number. For the Rayleigh number of 104, 105 and 106, the average Nusselt number increases with the number of absorber tubes by 13.87 %, 6.26 %, and 1.55 %, respectively. This increment suggests effect of thermal interactions among the neighboring absorber tubes

Buoyancy Driven Flow, Heat Transfer and Entropy Generation Characteristics for Different Heater Geometries Placed in Cryogenic Liquid: A CFD Study

The present work reports 3D computational study of buoyancy driven flow and heat transfer characteristics for a localized heater (analogous to superconductor) submerged in cryogenic liquid nitrogen in an enclosure. Seven different heater geometries are considered and the effect of heater geometry on flow and heat transfer characteristics are illustrated. The heater is generating heat at a constant rate (W/m3). Continuity, momentum and energy equations are solved using finite volume method. Liquid flow and heat transfer features are demonstrated with the help of velocity vector and temperature contours. Rayleigh number, average Nusselt number, maximum vertical velocity of fluid flow, average velocity of fluid flow are the parameters which are considered for comparing seven different geometries of heater. Additionally, an analysis of the entropy generation owing to transfer of heat and friction due to fluid flow are reported. Furthermore, the dependency of average Nusselt number, maximum velocity of fluid, entropy generation owing to transfer of heat and fluid friction as a function of heat generation rate is illustrated graphically. The results of this study indicate that heater geometry can considerably affect the transfer of heat, fluid flow features and entropy generation under same heat generation rate in the heater. Highest average Nusselt number on heater surface is obtained when heater geometry is circular; whereas lowest value of total entropy generation in the domain is obtained when heater geometry is equilateral triangle.

Numerical Investigation of Flow and Heat Transfer over a Shallow Cavity: Effect of Cavity Height Ratio

Flow over shallow cavities is used to model the flow field and heat transfer in a solar collector and a variety of engineering applications. Many studies have been conducted to demonstrate the effect of cavity aspect ratio (AR), but very few studies have been carried out to investigate the effect of cavity height ratio (HR) on shallow cavity flow behavior. In this paper, flow field structure and heat transfer within the 3-D shallow cavity are obtained numerically for two height ratio categories: HR = 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 and HR = 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2.0, 2.25, and 2.5. The governing equations, continuity, momentum, and energy are solved numerically and using the standard (K-ε) turbulence model. ANSYS FLUENT 14 CFD code is used to perform the numerical simulation based on the finite volume method. In this study, the cavity aspect ratio, AR = 5.0, and Reynolds number, Re = 3 × 105, parameters are fixed. The cavity’s bottom wall is heated with a constant and uniform heat flux (q = 740 W/m2), while the other walls are assumed to be adiabatic. For the current Reynolds number and cavity geometry, a single vortex structure (recirculation region) is formed and occupies most of the cavity volume. The shape and location of the vortex differ according to the height ratio. A reverse velocity profile across the recirculation region near the cavity’s bottom wall is shown at all cavity height ratios. Streamlines and temperature contours on the plane of symmetry and cavity bottom wall are displayed. Local static pressure coefficient and Nusselt number profiles are obtained along the cavity’s bottom wall, and the average Nusselt number for various height ratios is established. The cavity height ratio (HR) is an important geometry parameter in shallow cavities, and it plays a significant role in the cavity flow behavior and heat transfer characteristics. The results indicate interesting flow dynamics based on height ratio (HR), which includes a minimal value in average Nusselt number for HR ≈ 1.75 and spatial transitions in local Nusselt number distribution along the bottom wall for different HRs.

Numerical Computation on Natural Convection Heat Transfer from an Isothermal Sphere with Semi-Circular Ribs

For the very first time, the present study attempts to address the heat dissipation from an isothermal ribbed sphere under the action of pure natural convection. Semi-circular ribs of different radius are superimposed azimuthally on the outer surface of a sphere. The addition of ribs on the sphere serves a dual purpose in its practical applications; beautification of electronic devices such as spherical light sources and also increase the heat dissipation from the hot surface, which prevents the electronic component from getting overheated. Finite-volume method (FVM) based axisymmetric numerical simulations are performed in the laminar flow regime for the following ranges of non-dimensional parameters: Rayleigh number (102≤=Ra≤=108), inter rib-spacing to sphere diameter (0.191≤=P/D≤=0.785), and rib-radius to sphere diameter (0.03≤=R/D≤=0.083). The main target of this study is to identify the critical parameters for heat transfer enhancement from the ribbed sphere compared to a conventional plane sphere. The results obtained from the present work show that the average Nusselt number increases with an increase in Ra and P/D, whereas it decreases as R/D increases. Effectiveness of the ribs (εrib) and critical Rayleigh numbers (Racr), corresponding to εrib=1, are also calculated. Ribs are more effective in heat dissipation at low Ra and P/D and high R/D. A correlation for the average Nusselt number is also developed in this work, which would help design a better thermal management system.

Heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids from a sinusoidal corrugated cylinder placed in a square cavity

A numerical study is performed to investigate nanofluids' flow field and heat transfer characteristics between the domain bounded by a square and a wavy cylinder. The left and right walls of the cavity are at constant low temperature while its other adjacent walls are insulated. The convective phenomena take place due to the higher temperature of the inner corrugated surface. Super elliptic functions are used to transform the governing equations of the classical rectangular enclosure into a system of equations valid for concentric cylinders. The resulting equations are solved iteratively with the implicit finite difference method. Parametric results are presented in terms of streamlines, isotherms, local and average Nusselt numbers for a wide range of scaled parameters such as nanoparticles concentration, Rayleigh number, and aspect ratio. Several correlations have been deduced at the inner and outer surface of the cylinders for the average Nusselt number, which gives a good agreement when compared against the numerical results. The strength of the streamlines increases significantly due to an increase in the aspect ratio of the inner cylinder and the Rayleigh number. As the concentration of nanoparticles increases, the average Nusselt number at the internal and external cylinders becomes stronger. In addition, the average Nusselt number for the entire Rayleigh number range gets enhanced when plotted against the volume fraction of the nanofluid.

Effect of Variation of Pin-fin Height on Jet Impingement Heat Transfer on a Rotating Surface

Heat transfer over rotating surfaces is of particular interest in rotating machinery such as gas turbine engines. The rotation of the gas turbine disc creates a radially outward flow on the disc surface, which may lead to ingress of hot gases into the narrow cavity between the disc and the stator. Impingement of cooling jet is an effective way of cooling the disc and countering the ingress of the hot gases. Present study focusses on investigating the effect of introducing pin-fins over the rotating disc on the heat transfer. The jet Reynolds number has been varied from 5000 to 18000, and the rotating Reynolds number has been varied from 5487 to 12803 for an aluminum disc of thickness 6.35mm and diameter 10.16 cm, over which square pins have been arranged in an inline fashion. Steady state temperature measurements have been taken using thermocouples embedded in the disc close to the target surface, and area average Nusselt number has been calculated. The effects of varying the height of the pin-fins, distance between nozzle and the disc surface and the inclination of the impinging jet with the axis of rotation have also been studied. The results have been compared with those for a smooth aluminum disc of equal dimensions and without any pin-fins. The average Nusselt number is significantly enhanced by the presence of pin fins. In the impingement dominant regime, where the effect of disc rotation is minimal for a smooth disc, the heat transfer increases with rotational speed in case of pin fins. The effect of inclination angle of the impinging jet is insignificant in the range explored in this paper (0° to 20°).