Vibration effects on heat transfer characteristics of supercritical pressure hydrocarbon fuel in transition and turbulent states

Abstract

In this paper, the heat transfer characteristics of supercritical pressure hydrocarbon fuel RP-3 in transition and turbulent flow states flowing through horizontal vibrating tubes were experimentally investigated. Effects of system pressure, heat flux, mass flow rate, inlet temperature, acceleration and frequency on heat transfer with vibration were studied. The results indicated that the vibration enhance heat transfer significantly in the entrance section, as the development of thermal boundary layer was disturbed by vibration and the transition of flowing state was promoted as well. It was also found that the heat transfer enhancement became weaker with the Reynolds number increasing and finally disappears (Re>12000). In addition, the experiments showed that the heat transfer was extremely enhanced in some certain frequencies, and it displayed similar trend of convective heat transfer for different x/d position along the tube. Finally, a new heat-transfer empirical correlation describing the vibration effects on heat transfer is proposed based on experimental results.