Turbulent Heat Transfer in Plane Couette Flow

Abstract

Heat transfer in a fully developed plane Couette flow for different Prandtl number fluids was studied using numerical simulations. The flow field was created by two infinite planes moving at the same velocity, but in opposite directions, forming a region of constant total shear stress. Heat markers were released into the flow from the channel wall, and the ground level temperature was calculated for dispersion from continuous line sources of heat. In addition, the temperature profile across the channel was synthesized from the behavior of these continuous line sources. It was found that the heat transfer coefficient for Couette flow is higher than that in channel flow for the same Prandtl numbers. Correlations were also obtained for the heat transfer coefficient for any Prandtl number ranging from 0.1 to 15,000 in fully developed turbulence.