Prandtl Number Dependence of Natural Convection in Porous Media

1987 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Jonsson ◽  
I. Catton

The effect of Prandtl number of a medium on heat transfer across a horizontal layer was measured. Stainless steel particles of diameters 1.6, 3.2, and 4.8 mm, glass particles of diameters 2.5 and 6.00 mm, and lead particles of diameter 0.95 mm were used with silicon oil, water, and mercury as working fluids. The bed height was varied from 2.5 to 12 cm. Experimental results are presented showing Nusselt number as a function of medium Rayleigh number with the effective Prandtl number, defined as the product of medium Prandtl number and Kozeny–Carmen constant, serving as a parameter. Correlations for Nusselt number are given for effective Prandtl number less than 0.1 and for effective Prandtl number greater than 0.1, which corresponds to an infinite effective Prandtl number. For the steel–water case the wavenumber is shown as a function of medium Rayleigh number.

Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

A numerical study of natural convective heat transfer from an upward facing, heated horizontal isothermal surface imbedded in a large flat adiabatic surface has been undertaken. On the heated surface is a series of triangular shaped waves. Laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow conditions have been considered. The flow has been assumed to be two-dimensional and steady. The fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature giving rise to the buoyancy forces. This was with treated using the Boussinesq approach. The numerical solution has been obtained using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT©. The k-epsilon turbulence model with full account being taken of buoyancy force effects has been employed. The heat transfer rate from the heated surface expressed in terms of a Nusselt number is dependent on the Rayleigh number, the number of waves, the height of the waves relative to the width of the heated surface, and the Prandtl number. This study obtained results for a Prandtl number of 0.74 which is effectively the value for air. An investigation of the effect of the Rayleigh number, the dimensionless height of the surface waves, and the number of surface waves on the Nusselt number has been undertaken.


Author(s):  
T. S. Lee

Heat transfer and fluid flow processes in enclosed spaces have been extensively studied due to their importance in energy conversion, storage and transmission systems. Concentric and eccentric annular geometries are most commonly encountered in solar collector-receiver system, cooling system in nuclear reactors etc. For mixed flow in the annulus between concentric or eccentric cylinders in a rotating system, most work were performed for the cases of vertical cylindrical annulus. More recently, the effects of recirculation on the natural convection between the annular region in horizontal rotating cylinders have become a topic of interest to researchers. The applications of these studies include food processing and the interest in seeking improved methods for crystallographic perfection in industrial processes, above studies are for air with Pr≅1.0. However, other effects of rotation on heat transfer characteristics for low Prandtl number fluids are encountered in high power electric machines with heated shafts, such as a mercury slip ring assembly. For the present study, natural convection is driven by vertical temperature gradient and vertical gravity force. The interaction with the effect of rotation of the inner cylinder is expected to lead to complicated flows. Studies show that the mean Nusselt number increases with Rayleigh number. At a Prandtl number of order 1.0 with a fixed Rayleigh number, when the inner cylinder is made to rotate, the mean Nusselt number decreases through out the flow. At lower Prandtl number of the order 0.1 to 0.01, the mean Nusselt number remained fairly constant with respect to the rotational Reynolds number.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
Abdulrahim Kalendar

Natural convective heat transfer from the top and bottom surfaces of a thin circular isothermal horizontal plate which, in general, has a centrally placed adiabatic section has been numerically investigated. The temperature of the plate surfaces is higher than the temperature of the surrounding fluid. The range of conditions considered is such that laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow occurs over the plate. The heat transfer from the upper and lower surfaces of the plate as well as the mean heat transfer rate from the entire surface of the plate have been considered. The flow has been assumed to be axisymmetric and steady. The k-epsilon turbulence model with account being taken of buoyancy force effects has been used and the solution has been obtained using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT©. The heat transfer rate from the heated plate has been expressed in terms of a Nusselt number based on the outside plate diameter and the difference between the plate temperature and the fluid temperature far from the plate. The mean Nusselt number is dependent on the Rayleigh number, the ratio of the diameter of the inner adiabatic section to the outer plate diameter, and the Prandtl number. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74, i.e., effectively the value for air. The variations of the mean Nusselt number averaged over both the upper and lower surfaces and of the mean Nusselt numbers for the upper surface and for the lower surface with Rayleigh number for various adiabatic section diameter ratios have been studied. The use of a reference length scale to allow the correlation of these mean Nusselt number-Rayleigh number variations has been investigated.


2020 ◽  
pp. 190-190
Author(s):  
Houssem Laidoudi ◽  
Mustapha Helmaoui ◽  
Mohamed Bouzit ◽  
Abdellah Ghenaim

In this paper, we performed a numerical simulation of natural convection of Newtonian fluids between two cylinders of different cross-sectional form. The inner cylinder is supposed to be hot and the outer cylinder is assumed to be cold. The diameter of inner cylinder to the diameter of outer cylinder defines the radii ratio (RR= 2.5). The governing equations describing the physical behavior of fluid flow and heat transfer are solved using finite volume method. The effects of Prandtl number (Pr = 0.71 to 100), Rayleigh number (Ra = 103 to 105) and inclination angle of inner cylinder (? = 0? to 80?) on streamlines, isotherms and dimensionless velocity are presented and discussed. Also, the mean average Nusselt number of inner cylinder is plotted versus the governing parameters. All present simulations are considered in two-dimensions for steady laminar flow regime. The obtained results showed that the flow between cylinders is more stable for the inclination angle ? = 0?. Increase in Rayleigh number increases the heat transfer rate for all values of inclination angle. Furthermore, the effect of Prandtl number on the mean average Nusselt number becomes negligible when Pr is over the value 7.01. For example at Pr = 0.71 and Ra =105, increase in inclination from 0? to 40?decreases the average Nusselt number by 5.4%. A new correlation is also provided to describe the average Nusselt number as function of Pr and Ra at ? = 0?.


Author(s):  
Salaika Parvin ◽  
Nepal Chandra Roy ◽  
Litan Kumar Saha ◽  
Sadia Siddiqa

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.


2011 ◽  
Vol 71-78 ◽  
pp. 1187-1190
Author(s):  
Yan Lai Zhang ◽  
Zhong Hao Rao ◽  
Shuang Feng Wang ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
Li Jun Li ◽  
...  

This experiment is performed to investigate heat transfer characteristics with the PCM microcapsule slurry in a solid phase state at a horizontal rectangular enclosure heating from below and cooling from top. Some important parameters are taken into account such as the mass concentration of the PCM, the temperature difference between heating plate and cooling plate, Nusselt number Nu, Rayleigh number Ra and the aspect ratio (width/height) of the horizontal rectangular enclosure. Experiment is done under the thermal steady condition in the PCM microcapsule slurry. Heat transfer coefficient is measured under various temperature differences in PCM mass concentrations of 10% and 20%. And relationship with Nusselt number Nu and Rayleigh number Ra is summarized to various heights H or the aspect ratio (width/height) Ar of enclosure.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 171-178
Author(s):  
Khalid Alammar

Using the standard k-e turbulence model, an incompressible, axisymmetric turbulent flow with a sudden expansion was simulated. Effect of Prandtl number on heat transfer characteristics downstream of the expansion was investigated. The simulation revealed circulation downstream of the expansion. A secondary circulation (corner eddy) was also predicted. Reattachment was predicted at approximately 10 step heights. Corresponding to Prandtl number of 7.0, a peak Nusselt number 13 times the fully-developed value was predicted. The ratio of peak to fully-developed Nusselt number was shown to decrease with decreasing Prandtl number. Location of maximum Nusselt number was insensitive to Prandtl number.


Mathematics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 1175
Author(s):  
Nor Ain Azeany Mohd Nasir ◽  
Anuar Ishak ◽  
Ioan Pop

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stagnation point flow over a shrinking or stretching flat sheet is investigated. The governing partial differential equations (PDEs) are reduced into a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by a similarity transformation and are solved numerically with the help of MATLAB software. The numerical results obtained are for different values of the magnetic parameter M, heat generation parameter Q, Prandtl number Pr and reciprocal of magnetic Prandtl number ε. The influences of these parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are investigated and shown in tables and graphs. Two solutions are found for a certain rate of the shrinking strength. The stability of the solutions in the long run is determined, and shows that only one of them is stable. It is found that the skin friction coefficient f ″ ( 0 ) and the local Nusselt number − θ ′ ( 0 ) decrease as the magnetic parameter M increases. Further, the local Nusselt number increases as the heat generation increases.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 2583-2605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mohsen Peiravi ◽  
Javad Alinejad ◽  
D.D. Ganji ◽  
Soroush Maddah

Purpose The purpose of this study is investigating the effect of using multi-phase nanofluids, Rayleigh number and baffle arrangement simultaneously on the heat transfer rate and Predict the optimal arrangement type of baffles in the differentiation of Rayleigh number in a 3D enclosure. Design/methodology/approach Simulations were performed on the base of the L25 Taguchi orthogonal array, and each test was conducted under different height and baffle arrangement. The multi-phase thermal lattice Boltzmann based on the D3Q19 method was used for modeling fluid flow and temperature fields. Findings Streamlines, isotherms, nanofluid volume fraction distribution and Nusselt number along the wall surface for 104 < Ra < 108 have been demonstrated. Signal-to-noise ratios have been analyzed to predict optimal conditions of maximize and minimize the heat transfer rate. The results show that by choosing the appropriate height and arrangement of the baffles, the average Nusselt number can be changed by more than 57 per cent. Originality/value The value of this paper is surveying three-dimensional and two-phase simulation for nanofluid. Also using the Taguchi method for Predicting the optimal arrangement type of baffles in a multi-part enclosure. Finally statistical analysis of the results by using of two maximum and minimum target Function heat transfer rates.


Author(s):  
Ramadan Y. Sakr ◽  
Nabil S. Berbish ◽  
Ali A. Abd-Aziz ◽  
Abdalla Said Hanafi

Experimental and numerical studies for natural convection in two dimensional regions formed by a constant flux heat horizontal elliptic tube concentrically located in a larger, isothermally cooled horizontal cylinder were investigated. Both ends of the annulus are closed. Experiments were carried out for the Rayleigh number based on the equivalent annulus gap length ranges from 1.12x107 up to 4.92x107; the elliptic tube orientation angle varies from 0o to 90o and the hydraulic radius ratio, HRR, was 6.4. These experiments were carried out for the axis ratio of an elliptic tube (minor/major=b/c) of 1:3. The numerical simulation for the problem is carried out by using commercial CFD code. The effects of the orientation angle as well as other parameters such as elliptic cylinder axis ratio and hydraulic radius ratio on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are investigated numerically. The numerical simulations covered a range of elliptic tube axis ratios from 0.1 to 0.98 and for the hydraulic radius ratios from 1.5 to 6.4. The results showed that the average Nusselt number increases as the orientation angle of the elliptic cylinder increases from 0o (the major axis is horizontal) to 90o (the major axis is vertical) and with the Rayleigh number as well. Also, the average Nusselt number decreases with the increase of the hydraulic radius ratio. An increase up to 1.75 and further increases in the hydraulic radius ratio leads to an increase in the average Nusselt number. The axis ratio of the elliptic cylinder has an insignificant effect on the average Nusselt number. Both the average and local Nusselt number from the experimental results are compared with those obtained from the CFD code.Both the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics for different operating and geometric conditions are illustrated velocity vectors and isotherm contours that were obtained from the CFD code. Also, two correlation equations that relate the average Nusslet number with the Rayleigh number, orientation angle, and hydraulic radius ratio and axis ratio are obtained.


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