A 3D Numerical Simulation of a Cylindrical Towel Heater With Symmetric and Asymmetric Heating

Author(s):  
Daniel Murray ◽  
Jose´ L. Lage

In this study a cylindrical towel heater filled with air is simulated numerically in three-dimensions, with the cylinder being heated electrically from the side. The objective is to investigate the efficiency of the heating process as to maintain the towel at a certain temperature, higher than the ambient temperature (ambient temperature outside the heating cylinder), with the heating being symmetric or asymmetric. The process is modeled analytically assuming the towel as a homogeneous and isotropic porous medium, saturated with air, and enclosed by the cylinder. The cylinder wall is heated with a constant, symmetric or asymmetric heat flux, with the bottom surface assumed adiabatic and the top isothermal in equilibrium with the ambient air. The porous-continuum mass, momentum and energy equations for the natural convection inside the cylinder, derived through volume averaging the continuum equations with appropriate closure equations, are written in nondimensional form and solved numerically using the finite-volume method. A parametric study is then performed, after identifying suitable ranges for the parameters involved, to identify the effects of the several controlling parameters, namely the cylinder heating strength (the Rayleigh number), the towel permeability (the Darcy number), form coefficient (the dimensionless form coefficient), and thermal diffusivity (modified Prandtl number). The results, in terms of volume-averaged and surface-averaged temperatures and Nusselt numbers, indicate that the Darcy and Rayleigh numbers have a predominant effect on the natural convection process inside the cylinder, with the inertia coefficient and the modified Prandtl number having lesser influence on the results. For the asymmetric heating configuration, the resulting Nusselt number is higher while the volume-averaged temperature is lower, as compared to the symmetric heating. Hence, a symmetric heating is preferable if a high average towel temperature is the objective of the heater. If a more efficient heating process is sought, on the other hand, than the asymmetric option should be the best alternative.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhui Gao ◽  
Mengxue Lu ◽  
Yinzhen Sun ◽  
Jingyao Wang ◽  
Zhen An ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The effect of ambient temperature on allergic rhinitis (AR) remains unclear. Accordingly, this study aimed to explore the relationship between ambient temperature and the risk of AR outpatients in Xinxiang, China. Method Daily data of outpatients for AR, meteorological conditions, and ambient air pollution in Xinxiang, China were collected from 2015 to 2018. The lag-exposure-response relationship between daily mean temperature and the number of hospital outpatient visits for AR was analyzed by distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM). Humidity, long-time trends, day of the week, public holidays, and air pollutants including sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were controlled as covariates simultaneously. Results A total of 14,965 AR outpatient records were collected. The relationship between ambient temperature and AR outpatients was generally M-shaped. There was a higher risk of AR outpatient when the temperature was 1.6–9.3 °C, at a lag of 0–7 days. Additionally, the positive association became significant when the temperature rose to 23.5–28.5 °C, at lag 0–3 days. The effects were strongest at the 25th (7 °C) percentile, at lag of 0–7 days (RR: 1.32, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.05–1.67), and at the 75th (25 °C) percentile at a lag of 0–3 days (RR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.02–1.29), respectively. Furthermore, men were more sensitive to temperature changes than women, and the younger groups appeared to be more influenced. Conclusions Both mild cold and mild hot temperatures may significantly increase the risk of AR outpatients in Xinxiang, China. These findings could have important public health implications for the occurrence and prevention of AR.


2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhu Zhao ◽  
Liancun Zheng ◽  
Xinxin Zhang ◽  
Fawang Liu ◽  
Xuehui Chen

This paper investigates natural convection heat transfer of generalized Oldroyd-B fluid in a porous medium with modified fractional Darcy's law. Nonlinear coupled boundary layer governing equations are formulated with time–space fractional derivatives in the momentum equation. Numerical solutions are obtained by the newly developed finite difference method combined with L1-algorithm. The effects of involved parameters on velocity and temperature fields are presented graphically and analyzed in detail. Results indicate that, different from the classical result that Prandtl number only affects the heat transfer, it has remarkable influence on both the velocity and temperature boundary layers, the average Nusselt number rises dramatically in low Prandtl number, but increases slowly with the augment of Prandtl number. The maximum value of velocity profile and the thickness of momentum boundary layer increases with the augment of porosity and Darcy number. Moreover, the relaxation fractional derivative parameter accelerates the convection flow and weakens the elastic effect significantly, while the retardation fractional derivative parameter slows down the motion and strengthens the elastic effect.


1975 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Forbes ◽  
J. W. Cooper

Natural convection in horizontal layers of water cooled from above to near freezing was studied analytically. The water was confined laterally and underneath by rigid insulators, and the upper horizontal surface was subjected to: (1) a constant 0C temperature, rigid conducting boundary, and (2) a free, water to air convection boundary condition, in which the convective heat transfer coefficient was held constant at values of 5.68 W/m2 · K and 284 W/m2 · K (1.0 and 50.0 Btu/hr ft2F) and the temperature of the ambient air was maintained at 0C. The ratios of the width to the depth of the rectangular water layers under consideration were W/D = 1, 3, and 6. Initially the water is assumed to be at a uniform temperature of either 4C or 8C, and then the upper surface boundary condition was suddenly applied. It was observed in all cases for which the initial water temperature was 4C, that the water remained stagnant and became thermally stratified. Heat transfer application of either of the surface boundary conditions to water initially at 8C produced large convective eddies extending from the bottom to the top of the layer of water. As the liquid layer cooled further, two distinct horizontal regions appeared, the 4C isothermal line separating the two. This produces a region of hydrodynamic instability in the fluid since the maximum density fluid (4C) is physically located above the less dense fluid in the lower portion of the cavity. The large eddies which appeared initially were confined to the hydrodynamically unstable region bounded by the 4C isotherm and the bottom of the cavity. The action of viscous shearing forces upon the stable water above the 4C isotherm produced a second “layer” of eddies. An alternating direction implicit finite difference method was used to solve the coupled system of partial differential equations. The paper presents transient isotherms and streamlines and a discussion of the effect of maximum density on the flow patterns.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ryoichi Chiba

This study attempts to derive the statistics of temperature and velocity fields of laminar natural convection in a heated vertical channel with random wall temperature. The wall temperature is expressed as a random function with respect to time, or a random process. First, analytical solutions of the transient temperature and flow velocity fields for an arbitrary temporal variation in the channel wall temperature are obtained by the integral transform and convolution theorem. Second, the autocorrelations of the temperature and velocity are formed from the solutions, assuming a stationarity in time. The mean square values of temperature and velocity are computed under the condition that the fluctuation in the channel wall temperature can be considered as white noise or a stationary Markov process. Numerical results demonstrate that a decrease in the Prandtl number or an increase in the correlation time of the random process increases the level of mean square velocity but does not change its spatial distribution tendency, which is a bell-shaped profile with a peak at a certain horizontal distance from the channel wall. The peak position is not substantially affected by the Prandtl number or the correlation time.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document