Convective heat transfer of horizontal spherical particle layer heated from below and cooled from above Part II: Effect of thickness of particle layer

Abstract

Convection heat transfer and pressure drop measurements were performed with a rectangular duct, having a cooled upper and a heated lower surface, which was packed with spherical particles. Air was used as the test fluid and four kinds of spherical particles having different diameters and thermal conductivities were used as the packing materials. The ratio of the diameter of the spherical particle to the distance between the cooled and heated surfaces, d/H, was varied from 0.173 to 1. The thermal conductivity of the particle layer was also measured under the still air condition. The thermal conductivity of the particle layer was not affected by the value of d/H. In the case of the one-stage arrangement of spherical particles (d/H = 1), the flow resistance took on a remarkably small value compared with the flow resistance of a homogeneous spherical particle layer. Moreover, the flow resistance of the particle layer formed with some layers of particles could be predicted by combining the flow characteristics of the one-stage particle layer and that of the homogeneous spherical particle layer. The heat transfer coefficient of the particle layer was larger than that of turbulent air flow on a flat plate. At a constant superficial air velocity, there existed a value of d/H which gave a maximum value of the average heat transfer coefficient. Nondimensional heat transfer correlation equations were derived in terms of parameters expressing the average characteristics of the spherical particle layers. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Jpn Res, 26(3): 176–192, 1997