Effect of Sinusoidally Varying Flow of Yield Stress Fluid on Heat Transfer From a Cylinder

Abstract

Abstract The effect of pulsating laminar flow of a Bingham plastic fluid on heat transfer from a constant temperature cylinder is studied numerically over wide ranges of conditions as Reynolds number (0.1 ≤ Re ≤ 40) and Bingham number (0.01 ≤ Bn ≤ 50) based on the mean velocity, Prandtl number (10 ≤ Pr ≤ 100), pulsation frequency (0 ≤ ω* ≤ π), and amplitude (0 ≤ A ≤ 0.8). Results are visualized in terms of instantaneous streamlines, isotherms, and apparent yield surfaces at different instants of time during a pulsation cycle. The overall behavior is discussed in terms of the instantaneous and time-averaged values of the drag coefficient and Nusselt number. The size of the yielded zone is nearly in phase with the pulsating velocity, whereas the phase shift has been observed in both drag coefficient and Nusselt number. The maximum augmentation (∼30%) in Nusselt number occurs at Bn = 1, Re = 40, Pr = 100, ω* = π, and A = 0.8 with respect to that for uniform flow. However, the increasing yield stress tends to suppress the potential for heat transfer enhancement. Conversely, this technique of process intensification is best suited for Newtonian fluids in the limit of Bn → 0. Finally, a simple expression consolidates the numerical values of the time-averaged Nusselt number as a function of the pertinent dimensionless parameters, which is consistent with the widely accepted scaling of the Nusselt number with ∼Pe1/3 under these conditions.