Turbulent Flow in Ducts

Noncircular Channels Calciilation of fric tional pressure drop in noncircular channels depends on whether the flow is laminar or tumu-lent, and on whether the channel is full or open. For turbulent flow in ducts running full, the hydraulic diameter shoiild be substituted for D in the friction factor and Reynolds number definitions, Eqs. (6-32) and (6-33). The hydraiilic diameter is defined as four times the channel cross-sectional area divided by the wetted perimeter. For example, the hydraiilic diameter for a circiilar pipe is = D, for an annulus of inner diameter d and outer diameter D, = D — d, for a rectangiilar duct of sides 7, h, Dij = ah/[2(a + h)].T ie hydraulic radius Rii is defined as one-fourth of the hydraiilic diameter. 

The transition to turbulent flow in ducts starts at Re = 2300. The flow is fully turbulent at 5 x 104 < Re < 10s, depending on the turbulence of the incoming flow and the shape of the... 

The critical Reynolds number for transition from laminar to turbulent flow in noncirciilar channels varies with channel shape. In rectangular ducts, 1,900 < Re < 2,800 (Hanks and Ruo, Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundam., 5, 558-561 [1966]). In triangular ducts, 1,600 < Re < 1,800 (Cope and Hanks, Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundam., II, 106-117 [1972] Bandopadhayay and Hinwood, j. Fluid Mech., 59, 775-783 [1973]). 

For turbulent flow in a duct of non-circular cross-section, the hydraulic mean diameter may be used in place of the pipe diameter and the formulae for circular pipes may then be applied without introducing a large error. This approach is entirely empirical. 

The data for heating and cooling water in turbulent flow in rectangular ducts are reasonably well correlated by the use of equation 9.59 in the form ... 

The mathematical analysis of flow in ducts of noncircular cross section is vastly more complex in laminar flow than for circular pipes and is impossible for turbulent flow. As a result, relatively little theoretical base has been developed for the flow of fluids in noncircular ducts. In order to deal with such flows practically, empirical methods have been developed. 

Streamlines for turbulent flow in an axi-symmetric turn-around duct. (Reproduced with permission of Fluid Dynamics International)... 

Some simple methods of determining heat transfer rates to turbulent flows in a duct have been considered in this chapter. Fully developed flow in a pipe was first considered. Analogy solutions for this situation were discussed. In such solutions, the heat transfer rate is predicted from a knowledge of the wall shear stress. In fully developed pipe flow, the wall shear stress is conventionally expressed in terms of the friction factor and methods of finding the friction factor were discussed. The Reynolds analogy was first discussed. This solution really only applies to fluids with a Prandtl number of 1. A three-layer analogy solution which applies for all Prandtl numbers was then discussed. 

The foregoing arguments may be applied to turbulent flow in noncircular ducts by introducing a dimension equivalent to the diameter of a circular pipe. This is known as the mean hydraulic diameter, which is defined as four times the cross-sectional area divided by the wetted perimeter. The following examples are given ... 

The Universal Velocity Distribution Law refers to the correlation of many sets of experimental measurements of the time avereged velocity profile near a wall during turbulent flow in smooch cireular lubes or ducts.37 These data are normally represented in terms of a dimensionless velocity u aed distance from (he wall, v + ... 

FIGURE 5.7 Power law distribution for fully developed turbulent flow in a smooth circular duct [45]. 

Several friction factor correlations for fully developed turbulent flow in smooth, circular ducts are listed in Table 5.8. According to Bhatti and Shah [45], these formulas were derived from highly accurate experimental data for a certain Reynolds number range. 

The friction factor correlations for fully developed turbulent flow in a rough circular duct are summarized in Table 5.9. The friction factor for turbulent flow in an artificially roughed circular duct can be found in Rao [59]. 

Moody s [58] plot, shown in Fig. 5.9, gives the friction factor for laminar and turbulent flow in both smooth and rough circular ducts. Relative roughness el Dk is used as a parameter for... 

TABLE 5.12 Nusselt Numbers for Fully Developed Turbulent Flow in the Fully Rough Flow Regime of a Circular Duct [45]... 

Fully Developed Flow. Knudsen and Katz [110] obtained the following velocity distributions for fully developed turbulent flow in a smooth concentric annular duct in terms of wall coordinates u+ and y+ ... 

TABLE 5.27 Nusselt Numbers and Influence Coefficients for Fully Developed Turbulent Flow in a Concentric Annular Duct with Uniform Heat Flux at One Wall and the Other Wall Insulated [111]... 

Hydrodynamically Developing Flow. Hydrodynamically developing turbulent flow in concentric annular ducts has been investigated by Rothfus et al. [114], Olson and Sparrow [115], and Okiishi and Serouy [116]. The measured apparent friction factors at the inner wall of two concentric annuli (r = 0.3367 and r = 0.5618) with a square entrance are shown in Fig. 5.17 (r = 0.5618), where / is the fully developed friction factor at the inner wall. The values of/ equal 0.01,0.008, and 0.0066 for Re = 6000,1.5 x 104, and 3 x 104, respectively [114]. 

FIGURE 5.17 Normalized apparent friction factors for turbulent flow in the hydro-dynamic entrance region of a smooth concentric annular duct (r = 0.5168) [114]. 

Thermally Developing Flow. Kays and Leung [111] present experimental results for thermally developing turbulent flow in four concentric annular ducts, r = 0.192,0.255,0.376, and 0.500, with the boundary condition of one wall at uniform heat flux and the other insulated, that is, the fundamental solution of the second kind. In accordance with this solution, the local Nusselt numbers Nu and Nu at the outer and inner walls are expressed as... 

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