Challenges in low-Prandtl number heat transfer simulation and modelling

Effect of Pulsation and Acceleration of Liquid Metal Turbulent Flow Through a Horizontal Channel by Large Eddy Simulation

Pulsation and acceleration of liquid metal turbulent flow through a horizontal channel has been numerically studied using a large eddy simulation (LES) technique. The effect of inlet pulsation and acceleration on flow and heat transfer characteristics of low Prandtl number liquid metal flow have been investigated and reported here. Results have been presented for different Reynolds numbers, different amplitudes, and frequency with constant bottom wall thickness. The flow field is modeled as unsteady-state two-dimensional incompressible turbulent-forced convection flow. Turbulence is modeled using a LES technique. Two-dimensional unsteady-state heat conduction equation is solved to know the temperature distribution in the solid region. Finite difference method solver is developed for solving the governing equations using sixth-order accuracy of compact schemes. The average Nusselt number shows cyclic variation with respect to time in pulsation flows. The enhancement of heat transfer with pulsation at amplitude 0.4 and frequency 100 Hz is 6.51%. The rate of heat transfer increases in pulsation flow compared to quasi-steady flow. The inlet acceleration shows a significant effect on flow characteristics. The present results are compared with direct numerical simulation (DNS) results available in the literature and matching well with DNS data.

A Logarithmic Turbulent Heat Transfer Model in Applications with Liquid Metals for Pr = 0.01–0.025

The study of turbulent heat transfer in liquid metal flows has gained interest because of applications in several industrial fields. The common assumption of similarity between the dynamical and thermal turbulence, namely, the Reynolds analogy, has been proven to be invalid for these fluids. Many methods have been proposed in order to overcome the difficulties encountered in a proper definition of the turbulent heat flux, such as global or local correlations for the turbulent Prandtl number and four parameter turbulence models. In this work we assess a four parameter logarithmic turbulence model for liquid metals based on the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RAN) approach. Several simulation results considering fluids with P r = 0.01 and P r = 0.025 are reported in order to show the validity of this approach. The Kays turbulence model is also assessed and compared with integral heat transfer correlations for a wide range of Peclet numbers.

Entropy Generation Assessment for Wall-Bounded Turbulent Shear Flows Based on Reynolds Analogy Assumptions

Heat transfer modeling plays a major role in design and optimization of modern and efficient thermal-fluid systems. Further, turbulent flows are thermodynamic processes, and thus, the second law of thermodynamics can be used for critical evaluations of such heat transfer models. However, currently available heat transfer models suffer from a fundamental shortcoming: their development is based on the general notion that accurate prediction of the flow field will guarantee an appropriate prediction of the thermal field, known as the. In this work, an assessment of the capability of the in predicting turbulent heat transfer when applied to shear flows of fluids of different Prandtl numbers will be given. Towards this, a detailed analysis of the predictive capabilities of the concerning entropy generation is presented for steady and unsteady state simulations. It turns out that the provides acceptable results only for mean entropy generation, while fails to predict entropy generation at small/sub-grid scales.

Enhanced enstrophy generation for turbulent convection in low-Prandtl-number fluids

Turbulent convection is often present in liquids with a kinematic viscosity much smaller than the diffusivity of the temperature. Here we reveal why these convection flows obey a much stronger level of fluid turbulence than those in which kinematic viscosity and thermal diffusivity are the same; i.e., the Prandtl number Pr is unity. We compare turbulent convection in air at Pr=0.7 and in liquid mercury at Pr=0.021. In this comparison the Prandtl number at constant Grashof number Gr is varied, rather than at constant Rayleigh number Ra as usually done. Our simulations demonstrate that the turbulent Kolmogorov-like cascade is extended both at the large- and small-scale ends with decreasing Pr. The kinetic energy injection into the flow takes place over the whole cascade range. In contrast to convection in air, the kinetic energy injection rate is particularly enhanced for liquid mercury for all scales larger than the characteristic width of thermal plumes. As a consequence, mean values and fluctuations of the local strain rates are increased, which in turn results in significantly enhanced enstrophy production by vortex stretching. The normalized distributions of enstrophy production in the bulk and the ratio of the principal strain rates are found to agree for both Prs. Despite the different energy injection mechanisms, the principal strain rates also agree with those in homogeneous isotropic turbulence conducted at the same Reynolds numbers as for the convection flows. Our results have thus interesting implications for small-scale turbulence modeling of liquid metal convection in astrophysical and technological applications.