Fundamental Characteristics of Mixed Convective Laminar Flow in Rotating Curved Pipes. Scaling Law and Thermo-Fluid Structure.

Abstract

The fluid flowing in rotating heated curved pipes is subjected to three body forces : centrifugal, Coriolis and buoyant forces. Fully developed laminar flow in rotating coiled pipes is investigated through similarity arguments and computational studies. The thermal boundary conditions at the wall are uniform wall heat flux axially and uniform wall temperature peripherally. Flow and heat transfer characteristics are elucidated for the case when they are governed by four parameters : Dean number, Prandtl number, body force ratio and buoyancy parameter. Detailed structures of velocity and temperature fields are shown for wide range of these parameters.