Numerical study of secondary flows in curved ducts
The secondary flow of an incompressible viscous fluid in a curved duct with and without sidewall heating is studied by using a finite-volume method. It is known that for low Dean numbers, the secondary flow is characterized by a pair of counter-rotating vortices. This study shows that, as the Dean number is increased, the secondary-flow structure evolves into a double vortex pair for low-aspect-ratio ducts and roll cells for ducts of high aspect ratio. A stability diagram is obtained in the domain of curvature ratio and Reynolds number. It is found that, for ducts of high curvature, the onset of instability depends on the Dean number and the curvature ratio while, for ducts of small curvature, the onset can be characterized by the Dean number alone. A comparison with the available theoretical and experimental results indicates good agreement. When there is sidewall heating, the interaction between the centrifugal and the buoyancy forces characterizes the secondary flow structure. As the Grashof number is increased, the friction factor can decrease due to the transition from centrifugally dominant flow to buoyancy-dominated flow. Also, for curved ducts the inertial effect dominates and the heat transfer may be enhanced at lower Grashof numbers.
- Research Organization:
- Stevens Inst. of Tech., Hoboken, NJ (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5236932
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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