Mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement and slow decay of swirl in tubes using tangential injection

Abstract

The turbulent flowfield in a tube heated uniformly from the wall has been experimentally studied when fluid is injected tangentially. The experiments were conducted by injecting air through injectors placed on the periphery of a 88.9-mm inside diameter and 2.5-m long acrylic tube. Six injectors of 22.23-mm inside diameter were used and tangential to total momentum flux ratio of 2.67 was obtained in the experiments. Temperature profiles were measured with a resistance thermometer probe. Profiles for mean velocities in the axial and tangential directions, as well as the Reynolds stresses were obtained using a single rotated straight hot wire and a single rotated slanted hot wire anemometer. No significant difference in mean velocities and Reynolds stresses were found between the adiabatic experiments and diabatic ones. Two major mechanisms for enhancement of heat transfer are identified: (1) high maximum axial velocity near the wall produces higher heat flux from the wall; and (2) high turbulence level in the middle region of the tube improves mixing and, thus, the rate of he.at transfer. Furthermore, it is observed that both the kinetic energy of the mean flow and the turbulence level decrease as swirl decays. However, during the decay process, the high turbulence-energy-production from Reynolds stresses is necessary to transfer the kinetic energy of the mean flow to the turbulence energy. This high turbulence-production, in turn, slows down the rate of decrease of the turbulence level. As a result, the swirl and the heat transfer enhancement are preserved for a long distance.