Spectral element simulations of unsteady forced convective heat transfer; Application to compact heat exchanger geometries

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/10407789108944835· OSTI ID:5885348

Amon, C H ^[1]; Mikic, B B ^[2]

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1. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, CarNegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (US)
2. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US)

Numerical investigations of the flow pattern and forced convective heat transfer in supercritical flows, such as those encountered in compact heat exchangers, are presented. These flows exhibit laminar self-sustained oscillations at the plane channel Tollmien-Schlichting frequency for Reynolds numbers above the critical one. These studies indicate that oscillatory separated flow results in large-scale convective patterns that are responsible for significant heat transfer enhancement and leads to a reduction in the pumping power required to achieve a given Nusselt number. The hydrodynamic-heat transfer numerical results are obtained by direct simulation of the unsteady energy and Navier-Stokes equations using a spectral element method for the spatial discretization. The spectral element method is a high-order weighted-residual technique that exploits both the common features and the competitive advantages of low-order finite element methods (versatility) and spectral techniques (accuracy and rapid convergence). It is shown that computational heat transfer and, in particular, direct numerical simulation can contribute significantly to exploration of the rich physics associated with heat transfer enhancement by flow destabilization.

• OSTI ID: 5885348
• Journal Information: Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications; (USA), Journal Name: Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications; (USA) Vol. 19:1; ISSN 1040-7782; ISSN NHAAE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420400* -- Engineering-- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
CONVECTION
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
FORCED CONVECTION
GEOMETRY
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRODYNAMICS
LAMINAR FLOW
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS
MECHANICS
THERMODYNAMICS