Laminar natural convection of non-Newtonian power-law fluids between concentric circular cylinders

• Published in: International communications in heat and mass transfer Vol. 43; pp. 112 - 121
• Main Authors: Matin, Meisam Habibi, Khan, Waqar Ahmed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Computational fluid dynamics; Concentric cylinders; Convection and heat transfer; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Fluids; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Natural convection; Newtonian fluids; Non-Newtonian; Non-newtonian fluid flows; Nusselt number; Physics; Power-law model; Pseudoplasticity; Turbulent flows, convection, and heat transfer; Natural convection; Nusselt number; Non-Newtonian; Concentric cylinders; Power-law model; Temperature distribution; Annular space; Digital simulation; Cooling systems; Velocity distribution; Non-Newtonian fluids; Finite volume methods; Power law fluid; Laminar flow; Modelling; Coaxial cylinders; Pseudoplastic fluid; Heat transfer
• ISSN: 0735-1933; 1879-0178
• DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2013.02.006

The two-dimensional steady-state natural convection of power-law fluids is studied numerically between two concentric horizontal cylinders with different constant temperatures. The governing equations are discretized using finite volume technique based on second order upwind and are solved using the SIMPLE algorithm. The effects of Rayleigh number (103≤Ra≤105) and Prandtl number (10≤Pr≤103) on the dimensionless velocity and temperature are investigated for both pseudoplastic and dilatant fluids. Also the mean Nusselt number for various values of governing parameters is obtained and discussed. The results indicate that with increasing the power-law index from 0.6 to 1.4, the mean Nusselt number decreases. In the best case among the range of parameters considered here the heat transfer rate for pseudo-plastic fluid (n=0.6) is 170% higher than the Newtonian one and for dilatant fluid (n=1.4) the heat transfer rate is 43% lower than the Newtonian fluid. So the pseudoplastic and dilatant fluids are more efficient than Newtonian fluids for cooling and insulating purposes, respectively. It is shown that as the Rayleigh number increases the cooling effect of pseudoplastic fluid and the insulating effect of dilatant fluid become more pronounced.