Fully-developed heat transfer in annuli for viscoelastic fluids with viscous dissipation

Abstract

Analytical solutions are obtained for heat transfer in concentric annular flows of viscoelastic fluids modeled by the simplified Phan-Thien–Tanner constitutive equation. Solutions for thermal and dynamic fully developed flow are presented for both imposed constant wall heat fluxes and imposed constant wall temperatures, always taking into account viscous dissipation. Equations are presented for the normalized temperature profile, the bulk temperature, the inner and outer wall temperatures and, through their definitions for the inner and outer Nusselt numbers as a function of all relevant non-dimensional parameters. Some special results are discussed in detail. Given the complexity of the derived equations, for ease of use compact exact expressions are presented for the Nusselt numbers and programmes to calculate all quantities are made accessible on the internet. Generally speaking, fluid elasticity is found to increase the heat transfer for imposed heating at the wall, especially in combination with internal heat generation by viscous dissipation, whereas for imposed wall temperatures it reduces heat transfer when viscous dissipation is weak.