Effect of viscous dissipation on forced convection for laminar flow through a straight regular polygonal duct using BEM method

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of the viscous dissipation of laminar flow through a straight regular polygonal duct on forced convection with constant axial wall heat flux with constant peripheral wall temperature using the boundary element method (BEM). Design/methodology/approach Both the wall heating case and the wall cooling case are considered. Applying the velocity profile obtained for the duct laminar flow and the energy equation with the viscous dissipation term is solved exactly for the constant wall heat flux using the BEM. The numerical values are obtained by means of a computer program, written by the authors in Fortran. The results of the BEM approach are verified by analytic models. Nusselt numbers are obtained for flows with a different number of sides of a regular polygonal duct and Brinkman numbers. Findings When the difference in temperature between the wall temperature and the fluid bulk temperature changes the sign, then the functions of the Nusselt number with the Brinkman number generated some singularities (BrqLs). For the Brinkman number referring to the total wall linear power, with the increasing value of the number of sides of a regular polygonal duct, BrqLs decreases in the range of 3 ≤ n < ∞. If the BrqL < BrqLs, it is possible to note that, in general, the Nusselt number is higher for cross-sections having a lower value of the number of sides of a regular polygonal duct. For BrqL > BrqLs, this rule is reversed. Originality/value This paper illustrates the effects of viscous dissipation on laminar forced convective flow in regular polygon ducts with a different number n of sides. A compact relationship for the Nusselt number vs the Brinkman number referring to the temperature difference between the wall temperature and the fluid bulk temperature and the Brinkman number, which is based on the total wall linear power, have been proposed.