Laminar convective heat transfer of a Bingham plastic in a circular pipe—I. Analytical approach—thermally fully developed flow and thermally developing flow (the Graetz problem extended)

Abstract

Thermally fully developed and thermally developing laminar flows of a Bingham plastic in a circular pipe have been studied analytically. For thermally fully developed flow, the Nusselt numbers and temperature profiles are presented in terms of the yield stress and Peclet number, proposing a correlation formula between the Nusselt number and the Peclet number. The solution to the Graetz problem has been obtained by using the method of separation of variables, where the resulting eigenvalue problem is solved approximately by using the method of weighted residuals. The effects of the yield stress, Peclet and Brinkman numbers on the Nusselt number are discussed.