Turbulent Heat Transfer Studies in Annulus With Inner Cylinder Rotation
Experimental investigations of turbulent heat transfer are made in a large-gap annulus with both rotating and nonrotating inner cylinder. The vertical annular channel has an electrically heated outer wall; the inner wall is thermally and electrically insulated. The axial air flow is allowed to develop before rotation and heating are imparted. The resulting temperature fields are investigated using thermocouple probes located near the channel exit. The wall heat flux, wall axial temperature development, and radial temperature profiles are measured. For each axial Reynolds number, three heat flux rates are used. Excellent correlation is established between rotational and nonrotational Nusselt number. The proper correlation parameter is a physical quantity characterizing the flow helix. This parameter is the inverse, of the ratio of axial travel of the flow helix in terms of hydraulic diameter, per half revolution of the spinning wall.