Mixed Convection Heat Transfer around a Tandem Circular Cylinders in Incompressible Downward Flow

Abstract

In this paper, we numerically examine the mixed convective flow around a confined tandem heated circular cylinders embedded in a vertical channel in order to determine exactly the effects of opposing thermal buoyancy and distance between cylinders (S) on the behavior of fluid flow and heat transfer rate. The dimensionless governing equations involving momentum, continuity and energy are obtained and solved in a steady laminar flow regime for the conditions:Re= 5 to 40 andS= 0 to 5d, at fixed values of Prandtl numberPr= 1, Richardson numberRi= 1 and blockage ratioβ= 1/5. The fluid flow and temperature field are illustrated in terms of streamline and isotherm contours. The average Nusselt number is also computed to quantify the effect of fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics on amount of heat transfer rate.