CFD Study of Heat Transfer in Power-law Fluids over Multiple Corrugated
Circular Cylinders in a Heat Exchanger
Abstract
The heat transfer in power-law fluids across three corrugated circular
cylinders placed in triangular pitch arrangement is studied
computationally in a confined channel. Continuity, momentum and energy
balance equations were solved using ANSYS FLUENT (Version 18.0). The
flow is assumed to be steady, incompressible, 2D and laminar. A square
domain of side 300 Dh is selected after detailed
domain study. An optimized grid with 98187 cells is used in the study.
The convergence criteria of 10 -7 for the continuity,
x-momentum and y-momentum balances and 10 -12 for
energy equation were used. Constant density and non-Newtonian power-law
viscosity modules were used. Diffusive term is discretized using central
difference scheme. Convective terms are discretized using Second Order
Upwind (SOU) scheme. Pressure-velocity coupling between continuity and
momentum equations was implemented using the SIMPLE (Semi-Implicit
Method for Pressure Linked Equation) scheme. Streamlines show wake
development behind the cylinders, which is much dominant at large
ReN and n. Isotherm contours are cramped
at higher values of ReN and
PrN, implying higher heat transfer. Global
parameters like Cd and Nu are computed for
the wide ranges of controlling dimensionless parameters, such as
power-law index (0.3 ≤ n ≤ 1.5), Reynolds (0.1 ≤
ReN ≤ 40) and Prandtl numbers (0.72 ≤
PrN ≤ 500). The NuLocal
plot attains a pitch near corrugation of surface due to abrupt change in
velocity and temperature gradients. Nu increases with
ReN and/or PrN and
decreases with n under otherwise identical situations. Nu
is correlated with pertinent parameters, namely,
ReN , PrN
and n.