The Numerical Prediction of Viscous Flow and Heat Transfer in Tube Banks

Abstract

A scheme for handling the numerical analysis of viscous flow and heat transfer in tube banks is presented. It involves the use of a cylindrical network of nodes in the vicinity of the tubes with a Cartesian mesh covering the remainder of the flow domain. The approach has been incorporated into the numerical solving algorithm for the Navier Stokes equations of Gasman, et al. [8]. A number of demonstration calculations is presented including a numerical simulation of the staggered square bank for which Bergelin and co-workers [4, 9] have reported experimental results for pressure drop and heat transfer rate. Agreement between predicted and measured characteristics is satisfactory when account is taken of end and entry effects that are present in the experiments but necessarily omitted from the calculations. Indeed the close agreement of the laminar predictions with measurements extends to Reynolds numbers in excess of 1000, a level at which it has hitherto been supposed that turbulent motion in the fluid made a substantial contribution to friction and heat transfer.