Effect of Compressibility on Velocity Profile and Friction Factor of Gaseous Laminar Flows in a Microtube

Laminar flow of nitrogen gas in a microtube was simulated numerically to obtain velocity profile and Fanning friction factor in a quasi-fully developed region. The numerical procedure based on Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian method solved two-dimensional compressible momentum and energy equations. The computations were performed for a wide range of Reynolds number in laminar flow regime with adiabatic wall condition. It was found that the velocity profile deviates from the parabola as Mach number increases, and the product of Fanning friction factor and Reynolds number is not a constant but a function of only Mach number. To explain the compressibility effect, a new theoretical flow model which gives the velocity profile of gaseous laminar flows in a microtube was proposed under the assumption of purely axial flow. The theoretical velocity profile is taking radial-direction density change into account, and coincides with the numerically obtained velocity profile. The proposed flow model also shows that the Fanning friction factor of a compressible flow in a microtube is expressed by a quadratic function of Mach number. The coefficient of the Mach squared term is 40% of the numerically obtained correlation. The compressibility effect on friction factor of gaseous laminar flows in a microtube partly results from velocity profile change which must occur to keep the mass velocity profile when density changes in radial direction. The remainder of the compressibility effect can be considered to result from actual mass transfer in the radial direction whose existence was demonstrated by the numerical results.

Analysis of Flow Boiling Frictional Pressure Drop in Plate Heat Exchangers

Plate heat exchangers are widely used in various industries for many years. The corrugated channels on the plates effectively enhance the turbulence of flow boiling and complicate the prediction of pressure drop. This article presents a brief review about effects of various operating and geometrical factors on frictional pressure drop during flow boiling in plate heat exchangers. Experimental data points of frictional pressure drop were collected from the previous literature to develop a general correlation. The database contained 591 data points, covering six different refrigerants, mass flux range 5.5–130 kg/m2/s1, heat flux 0–15 kW/m2, vapor quality 0.04–0.96, saturation temperature −25 to 61 C°, chevron angle 20 deg–65 deg, and hydraulic diameter 1.7–5.35 mm. In this study, several existing correlations were compared with the database, and most of them seem fail to give an acceptable prediction. A new correlation was proposed with multiple regression analysis in terms of two-phase Fanning friction factor. The new method showed a good agreement with the present database and predicted 70.2% and 91.7% of data points within ±30% and ±50% errors, respectively.

General Correlations for Laminar Flow Friction Loss and Heat Transfer in Plain Rectangular Plate-Fin Cores

New generalized correlations for predicting the average fanning friction factor f and average Nusselt number Nu for laminar flow in plain plate-fin compact cores of rectangular cross section are presented. These are based on extended experimental data, as well as three-dimensional computational simulations, obtained for a broad range of fin density and geometrical attributes. The results indicate that while the fully developed forced convection scales only with the interfin channel cross-sectional ratio α (fin spacing by fin height), the entrance region hydrodynamic and thermal performance is additionally a function of the fin-core length L, flow Reynolds number Re, and fluid Prandtl number Pr. The developing flow and convection is further shown to scale as: (fRe)∼(L/dhRe)1/2, and Nu ∼(L/dhRe)1/2Pr1/3ϕ(α), where f, Re, and Nu are all based on the hydraulic diameter dh of the interfin flow channel. Generalized correlations for both (fRe) and Nu are developed by the corresponding scaling of the forced convection behavior and asymptotic matching of the entrance or developing flow (short fin-core flow length) and the fully developed flow (large fin-core flow length) region performance. Finally, the predictions from these correlations are found to be within ±15% of all available experimental data for air, water, and glycol (0.71 ≤ Pr ≤ 10), and fin cores with 0 < α ≤ 1.

Heavy Oil Laminar Flow in Corrugated Ducts: A Numerical Study Using the Galerkin-Based Integral Method

Fluid flow in pipes plays an important role in different areas of academia and industry. Due to the importance of this kind of flow, several studies have involved circular cylindrical pipes. This paper aims to study fully developed internal laminar flow through a corrugated cylindrical duct, using the Galerkin-based integral method. As an application, we present a study using heavy oil with a relative density of 0.9648 (14.6 °API) and temperature-dependent viscosities ranging from 1715 to 13000 cP. Results for different fluid dynamics parameters, such as the Fanning friction factor, Reynolds number, shear stress, and pressure gradient, are presented and analyzed based on the corrugation number established for each section and aspect ratio of the pipe.

Thermal–Hydraulic Performance in a Microchannel Heat Sink Equipped with Longitudinal Vortex Generators (LVGs) and Nanofluid

In this study, the numerical conjugate heat transfer and hydraulic performance of nanofluids flow in a rectangular microchannel heat sink (RMCHS) with longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs) was investigated at different Reynolds numbers (200–1200). Three-dimensional simulations are performed on a microchannel heated by a constant temperature with five different configurations with different angles of attack for the LVGs under laminar flow conditions. The study uses five different nanofluid combinations of Al2O3 or CuO, containing low volume fractions in the range of 0.5% to 3.0% with various nanoparticle sizes that are dispersed in pure water, PAO (Polyalphaolefin) or ethylene glycol. The results show that for Reynolds number ranging from 100 to 1100, Al2O3–water has the best performance compared with CuO nanofluid with Nusselt number values between 7.67 and 14.7, with an associated increase in Fanning friction factor by values of 0.0219–0.095. For the case of different base fluids, the results show that CuO–PAO has the best performance with Nusselt number values between 9.57 and 15.88, with an associated increase in Fanning friction factor by 0.022–0.096. The overall performance of all configurations of microchannels equipped with LVGs and nanofluid showed higher values than the ones without LVG and water as a working fluid.

A Simplified Model for Predicting Friction Factors of Laminar Blood Flow in Small-Caliber Vessels

The aim of this study was to provide scientists with a straightforward correlation that can be applied to the prediction of the Fanning friction factor and consequently the pressure drop that arises during blood flow in small-caliber vessels. Due to the small diameter of the conduit, the Reynolds numbers are low and thus the flow is laminar. This study has been conducted using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations validated with relevant experimental data, acquired using an appropriate experimental setup. The experiments relate to the pressure drop measurement during the flow of a blood analogue that follows the Casson model, i.e., an aqueous Glycerol solution that contains a small amount of Xanthan gum and exhibits similar behavior to blood, in a smooth, stainless steel microtube (L = 50 mm and D = 400 μm). The interpretation of the resulting numerical data led to the proposal of a simplified model that incorporates the effect of the blood flow rate, the hematocrit value (35–55%) and the vessel diameter (300–1800 μm) and predicts, with better than ±10% accuracy, the Fanning friction factor and consequently the pressure drop during laminar blood flow in healthy small-caliber vessels.

A Simplified Model for Predicting Friction Factors of Laminar Blood Flow in Small-Caliber Vessels

The aim of this study is to provide the scientists with a straightforward correlation that can be applied for predicting the Fanning friction factor and consequently the pressure drop during blood flow in small caliber vessels. Due to the small diameter of the conduit, the Reynolds numbers are low and thus the flow is laminar. The study has been conducted using CFD simulations validated with relevant experimental data acquired using an appropriate experimental set-up. The experiments concern pressure drop measurement during the flow of a blood analogue that follows the Casson model, i.e. an aqueous glycerol solution that contains a small amount of xanthan gum and exhibits similar behavior to blood, in a smooth, stainless steel microtube (L=5.6cm and D=400 μm). The interpretation of the resulting numerical data led to the proposal of a simplified model that incorporates the effect of the flow rate, the hematocrit value (35-55%) and the vessel diameter (300-1800 μm) and predicts with better than ±10% the Fanning friction factor and consequently the pressure drop during laminar blood flow in small caliber vessels.

Undershoots in the Heat Transfer Coefficient and Friction-Factor Distributions in the Entrance Region of Turbulent Pipe Flows

Heat transfer coefficients for turbulent pipe flow are typically envisioned as axially varying from very high values at the pipe inlet to a subsequent monotonic decrease to a constant fully developed value. This distribution, although well enshrined in the literature, may not be universally true. Here, by the use of high accuracy numerical simulation, it was shown that the initially decreasing values of the coefficient may attain a local minimum before subsequently increasing to a fully developed value. This local minimum may be characterized as an undershoot. It was found that whenever a turbulent flow laminarizes when it enters a round pipe, the undershoot phenomenon occurs. The occurrence of laminarization depends on the geometry of the pipe inlet, on fluid-flow conditions in the upstream space from which fluid is drawn into the pipe inlet, on the magnitude of the turbulence intensity, and on the Reynolds number. However, the presence of the undershoot does not affect the fully developed values of the heat transfer coefficient. It was also found that the Fanning friction factor may also experience an undershoot in its axial variation. The magnitude of the heat transfer undershoot is generally greater than that of the Fanning friction factor undershoot.

The Thermal Hydraulic Performance of Wavy PCHE with Different Materials and Geometric Parameters

The printed circuited heat exchanger (PCHE) contain several different channel configurations, such as straight channel, zigzag channel and wavy channel. The wavy channel has better thermal performance than the straight channel and better hydraulic performance than the zigzag channel. This paper explores the thermal hydraulic performance of wavy channel PCHE. The numerical analysis of the PCHE in different materials and geometric parameters are conducted by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool. The materials applied in simulations involve Alloy617, Titanium Grade 3, Carlson 2205, UNS S30400 and Sandvik 253A. The results show that the materials have little effect on the thermal-hydraulic performance. The geometric parameters include channel degree varying from 10°to 50°, channel amplitude varying from 1mm to 5mm and the radium of hot/cold channel varying from 0.4mm to 2.0mm. It is found that the larger radium of hot channel results out the lower Nusselt number and lower fanning-friction factor while the higher radium of cold channel produces the higher Nusselt number and lower fanning-friction factor. The larger channel amplitude indicates the higher fanning-friction factor and lower Nusselt number. The larger channel degree indicates the higher fanning-friction factor, and higher Nusselt number.

Effects of Nano-Nozzles Cross-Sectional Geometry on Fluid Flow: Molecular Dynamic Simulation

Nano-nozzles are an essential part of the nano electromechanical systems (NEMS). Cross-sectional geometry of nano-nozzles has a significant role on the fluid flow inside them. So, main purpose of the present study is related to the effects of different symmetrical cross-sections on the fluid flow behavior inside of nano-nozzles. To this accomplishment, five different cross-sectional geometries (equilateral triangle, square, regular hexagon, elliptical and circular) are investigated by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. In addition, TIP4P is used for atomistic water model. In order to evaluate the fluid flow behavior, non-dimensional physical parameters such as Fanning friction factor, velocity profile and density number are analyzed. Obtained results are shown that the flow behavior characteristics appreciably depend on the geometry of nano-nozzle's cross-section. Velocity profile and density number for five different cross sections of nano-nozzle at three various measurement gauges are presented and discussed.