Heat transfer transitional flow

The heat-transfer phenomena for forced convection over exterior surfaces are closely related to the nature of the flow. The heat transfer in flow over tube bundles depends largely on the flow pattern and the degree of turbulence, which in turn are functions of the velocity of the fluid and the size and arrangement of the tubes. The equations available for the calculation of heat transfer coefficients in flow over tube banks are based entirely on experimental data because the flow Is too complex to be treated analytically. Experiments have shown that, in flow over staggered tube banks, the transition from laminar to turbulent flow Is more gradual than in flow through a pipe, whereas for in-line tube bundles the transition phenomena resemble those observed in pipe flow. In either case the transition from laminar to turbulent flow begins at a Reynolds number based on the velocity in the minimum flow area of about 100, and the flow becomes fully turbulent at a Reynolds number of about 3,000. The equation below can be used to predict heat transfer for flow across ideal tube banks. 

Transport Properties. Viscosity, themial conductivity, the speed of sound, and various combinations of these with other properties are called steam transport properties, which are important in engineering calculations. The speed of sound (Fig. 6) is important to choking phenomena, where the flow of steam is no longer simply related to the difference in pressure. Thermal conductivity (Fig. 7) is important to the design of heat-transfer apparatus (see HeaT-EXCHANGETECHNOLOGy). The viscosity, ie, the resistance to flow under pressure, is shown in Figure 8. The sharp declines evident in each of these properties occur at the transition from Hquid to gas phase, ie, from water to steam. The surface tension between water and steam is shown in Figure 9. 

Transition Region Turbulent-flow equations for predicting heat transfer coefficients are usually vahd only at Reynolds numbers greater than 10,000. The transition region lies in the range 2000 < < 10,000. 

What may be turbulent flow in the heat exchanger for water will reduce to transitional or laminar flow for the heat transfer fluid, reducing the coefficient of heat transfer to a value 70% or more of that for water. 

Weekman and Myers (W3) measured wall-to-bed heat-transfer coefficients for downward cocurrent flow of air and water in the column used in the experiments referred to in Section V,A,4. The transition from homogeneous to pulsing flow corresponds to an increase of several hundred percent of the radial heat-transfer rate. The heat-transfer coefficients are much higher than those observed for single-phase liquid flow. Correlations were developed on the basis of a radial-transport model, and the penetration theory could be applied for the pulsing-flow pattern. 

For the inlet length of a pipe in which the boundary layers are forming, the equations in the previous section will give an approximate value for the heat transfer coefficient. It should be remembered, however, that the flow in the boundary layer at the entrance to the pipe may be streamline and the point of transition to turbulent flow is not easily defined. The results therefore are, at best, approximate. 

Steam-liquid flow. Two-phase flow maps and heat transfer prediction methods which exist for vaporization in macro-channels and are inapplicable in micro-channels. Due to the predominance of surface tension over the gravity forces, the orientation of micro-channel has a negligible influence on the flow pattern. The models of convection boiling should correlate the frequencies, length and velocities of the bubbles and the coalescence processes, which control the flow pattern transitions, with the heat flux and the mass flux. The vapor bubble size distribution must be taken into account. 

Lelea D, Nishio S, Takano K (2004) The experimental research on micro-tube heat transfer and fluid flow of distilled water. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 47 2817-2830 Li ZX, Du DX, Guo ZY (2003) Experimental study on flow characteristics of liquid in circular micro-tubes. Microscale Thermophys Eng 7 253-265 Lindgren ER (1958) The transition process and other phenomena in viscous flow. Arkiv fur Physik 12 1-169... 

In Fig. 5.39a-d the local heat transfer coefficients derived in the horizontal tube are compared to those obtained in the 8° upward inclined pipe and presented by Hetsroni et al. (2006). The results show a clear improvement of the heat transfer coefficient with the pipe inclination. Taitel and Dukler (1976) showed that the flow regimes are very sensitive to the pipe inclination angle. In the flow regime maps presented in their work, the transition from stratified to annular flow in the inclined tube occurs for a smaller air superficial velocity than for the case of the horizontal tube. 

Galbiati L, Andreini P (1992) Elow patterns transition for vertical downward two-phase flow in capUlary tubes. Inlet mixing effects. Int Comm Heat Mass Transfer 19 791-799 Garimella S, Sobhan C (2003) Transport in microchannels - a critical review. Ann Rev Heat Transfer 13 1-50... 

Kandlikar SG, Balasubramanian P (2004) An extension of the flow boiling correlation to transition, laminar and deep laminar flows in mini-channels and micro-channels. Heat Transfer Eng 25 86-93... 

Prodanovic V, Fraser D, Salcudean M (2002) On transition from partial to fuUy developed subcooled flow boiling. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 45 4727-4738 Qu W, Mudawar I (2003a) Measurement and prediction of pressure drop in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 46 2737-2753 Qu W, Mudawar I (2003b) Flow boiling heat transfer in two-phase micro-channel heat sink. 1 Experimental investigation and assessment of correlation methods. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 46 2755-2771... 

In the flow region between laminar and fully developed turbulent flow heat-transfer coefficients cannot be predicted with certainty, as the flow in this region is unstable, and the transition region should be avoided in exchanger design. If this is not practicable the coefficient should be evaluated using both equations 12.11 and 12.13 and the least value taken. 

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