Enhanced visualisation of complex thermofluid data: Vertical and horizontal combined convection and microscale heat transfer cases

Copyright @ 2000 UITIn general, convective heat transfer is an 'n-dimensional' problem where n is well in excess of 3 for steady flows. Traditionally, the method of dimensional analysis results in a small number of dimensionless groups. In the case of steady forced convection these can reduce to three, namely the Nusselt (Nu), Reynolds (Re) and Prandtl (Pr) numbers, for heat transfer, fluid flow regime and fluid properties respectively. Again, traditionally, data are presented on log-log graphs, say of Nu versus Re, with Pr being a possible third parameter. For natural convection, the Grashof number (Gr) expresses buoyancy effects in place of Re, while for combined (natural and forced) convection Gr becomes additional to, rather than replacing, Re. Using sets of data for: (a) vertical combined convection in nuclear safety, (b) horizontal combined convection review material, and (c) microchannel heat transfer, in the first part of this paper we survey this problem. We reach the following conclusions: that heat transfer data are presented in either 'holistic' or 'reductive' modes, and that other thermodynamic performance data are related to the generic scientific cases of (a) 3-dimensional space and (b) multi-dimensional space. In the second part of the paper we present a first attempt at applying design-type procedures to specifying this problem. Visualisation priorities are suggested from which particular solutions will be developed in future

Analysis Of Convective Heat Transfer Enhancement By Nanofluids: Single-Phase And Two-Phase Treatments

Nanofluids have been investigated regarding their advantages and potentialities for the purpose of increasing convective heat transfer rates inside thermal systems where they are used as working fluids. Researchers in thermophysics have investigated these fluids experimentally and numerically. This review provides extensive theoretical information concerning nanofluids in the single-phase and two-phase treatments. Important published works on nanofluid properties and correlations are summarized and reviewed in detail. Heat transfer enhancement by nanofluids is a challenging problem due to the difficulties inherent in the model of the physical mechanism of interaction between the paricles. Here the interaction between the phases is modeled by several two-phase models, and the results are given in graphical and tabular forms. Despite the advantages of the mixture model, such as imlementation of physical properties and less computational power requirements, some studies showed that the results of the single-phase and two-phase models are very similar. The main difference consists in the effect of the drift velocities of the phases relative to each other