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Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.

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Other Authors: Meyer, Josua P.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2020
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author2 Meyer, Josua P.
author_browse Meyer, Josua P.
author_facet Meyer, Josua P.
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dc_rights_str_mv © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/77852 Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances Meyer, Josua P. u14317444@tuks.co.za Everts, Marilize Bashir, Abubakar Idris UCTD Forced convection Mixed convection Laminar flow Transitional flow regimes Smooth tubes Inlet disturbances Heat transfer Inclined tubes Thermal performance Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-07 SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09 SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-13 SDG-13: Climate action Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. Laminar and transitional flow regimes in tubes have been extensively investigated in the literature. However, there are several gaps in the forced and mixed convection literature, especially for inclined tubes with different inlet disturbances. The purpose of this study was to experimentally investigate the effect of tube inclination and inlet contraction ratio on the single-phase heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in the laminar and transitional flow regimes for pure forced and mixed convection conditions. An experimental set-up was designed, constructed and validated against literature with the test section in a horizontal and different vertical orientation. The test section was 4.6 m long and was made from a smooth hard drawn copper tube with measured inner and outer diameters of 5.1 mm and 6.3 mm, respectively. Experiments were conducted at various inclination angles from vertical upward flow (+90º) to vertical downward flow (–90º), with horizontal flow (0º) and several other angles in between. A total of 2 679 mass flow rate measurements, 174 135 temperature measurements and 2 679 pressure drop measurements were conducted using water (Prandtl numbers between 3.5 and 8.1) as working fluid. The Reynolds number range covered were from 400 to 6 000 at constant heat fluxes varying from 1 to 8 kW/m2. Four different types of inlets namely; square-edged and re-entrant inlet with different inlet contraction ratios (5, 11, 14 and 33), as well as hydrodynamically fully developed and 90º bend inlets were used. It was found that an increase in the inclination angle from horizontal flow (0º) to vertical (±90º) flow, decreased the buoyancy effects which led to decreased laminar heat transfer coefficients and friction factors for both upward and downward flows. The onset of buoyancy effects was significant near the vertical inclination angles and caused a rapid increase in the laminar heat transfer coefficients and friction factors when the inclination angles moved from vertical to horizontal orientations. An inclined tube Grashof number which is a function of inclination angle was defined and used to express the laminar Nusselt numbers as a forced convection part plus an enhancement component owing to mixed convection. The laminar friction factors were expressed as a function of a forced convection/isothermal part multiplied by the mixed convection part. Furthermore, it was found that the critical Reynolds numbers at which transitional flow regime started increased as the inclination angles increased from horizontal to vertical, while the end of transitional flow regime were inclination angle independent. This caused the width of the transitional flow regime to decrease, as well as the transition gradients to increase, with increasing inclination angles at different heat fluxes. It was also found that the flow directions (upward and downward) had a negligible effect on the heat transfer coefficients and friction factors in the entire transition and quasi-turbulent regions. The fully developed laminar forced convection Nusselt numbers were not constant at 4.36, but were a function of Reynolds number for Reynolds numbers higher than 1 000. Therefore, a revised laminar Nusselt number correlation for smooth circular tubes was developed. The fully developed laminar forced convection friction factors were, as expected, equal to 64/Re. For both the forced convection heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics, transition occurred at the same mass flow rates for all the heat fluxes, including isothermal flow, but the critical Reynolds numbers increased with an increase in heat flux. For forced convection condition, the width of the transitional flow regime in the fully developed region remained constant for all heat fluxes. For a square-edged inlet geometry, the transition from the laminar to the turbulent flow regimes occurred earlier as the inlet contraction ratio increased, while for the re-entrant inlet, transition was delayed. The transitional flow regime was significantly affected by smaller contraction ratios and this effect increased with increasing heat flux. However, it was found that the critical Reynolds numbers were independent of inlet geometry for contraction ratios larger than 33. For the 90º bend inlet, transition occurred earlier than all the other inlet geometries and contraction ratios. mi2025 Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering PhD Unrestricted SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure SDG-13: Climate action 2020-12-29T11:50:56Z 2020-12-29T11:50:56Z 2020/04/14 2019 Thesis Bashir, AI 2019, Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances, PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77852> A2020 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77852 en © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Forced convection
Mixed convection
Laminar flow
Transitional flow regimes
Smooth tubes
Inlet disturbances
Heat transfer
Inclined tubes
Thermal performance
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-07
SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-13
SDG-13: Climate action
Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances
title Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances
title_full Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances
title_fullStr Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances
title_full_unstemmed Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances
title_short Single-phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances
title_sort single phase forced and mixed convection in the laminar and transitional flow regimes of inclined smooth tubes with inlet disturbances
topic UCTD
Forced convection
Mixed convection
Laminar flow
Transitional flow regimes
Smooth tubes
Inlet disturbances
Heat transfer
Inclined tubes
Thermal performance
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-07
SDG-07: Affordable and clean energy
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-13
SDG-13: Climate action
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77852