Ram P. Bharti

Effects of Heating Location and Size on Natural Convection in Partially Heated Open-Ended Enclosure by Using Lattice Boltzmann Method

Natural convection heat transfer in an square enclosure, consisting of a partially heated west wall with east end open to ambient, is investigated numerically by using an in-house computational fluid dynamics solver based on thermal lattice Boltzmann method. In particular, the influences of Rayleigh number (103–106), heating location (bottom, middle, and top) on west wall, and dimensionless heating length (0.25–0.75) on momentum and heat transfer characteristics of air are presented and discussed. The streamline patterns show bifurcation at the lowest Rayleigh number for bottom and middle heating, whereas at the highest Rayleigh number, all heating positions yield bifurcation and elongation of flow patterns with a secondary vortex near the lower side of open end. The middle and bottom heating locations show a linear increase in Nusselt number with heater size, whereas inverse dependence is seen for top heating. The maximum heat transfer is observed in the case of middle heating. As expected, average Nusselt number increased with increasing Rayleigh number. Finally, the functional dependence of the average Nusselt number on flow governing parameters (Rayleigh number and heating length) for different heating locations is presented as a simple predictive empirical relationship.

Lattice Boltzmann analysis of effect of heating location and Rayleigh number on natural convection in partially heated open ended cavity

Natural convection characteristics of a partially heated open ended square cavity have been investigated numerically by using an in-house computational flow solver based on the passive scalar thermal lattice Boltzmann method (PS-TLBM) with D2Q9 (two-dimensional and nine-velocity link) lattice model. The partial part of left wall of the cavity is heated isothermally at either of the three different (bottom, middle and top) locations for the fixed heating length as half of characteristic length (H/2) while the right wall is open to the ambient conditions. The other parts of the cavity are thermally isolated. In particular, the influences of partial heating locations and Rayleigh number (103≤ Ra≤106) in the laminar zone on the local and global natural convection characteristics (such as streamline, vorticity and isotherm contours; centerline variations of velocity and temperature; and local and average Nusselt numbers) have been presented and discussed for the fixed value of the Prandtl number (Pr=0.71). The streamline patterns show qualitatively similar nature for all the three heating cases and Rayleigh numbers, except the change in the recirculation zone which is found to be largest for middle heating case. Isotherm patterns are shifted towards a partially heated wall on increasing Rayleigh number and/or shifting of heating location from bottom to top. Both the local and average Nusselt numbers, as anticipated, shown proportional increase with Rayleigh number. The cavity with middle heating location shown higher heat transfer rate than that for the top and bottom heating cases. Finally, the functional dependence of the average Nusselt number on flow governing parameters is also presented as a closure relationship for the best possible utilization in engineering practices and design.

Effect of wall permittivity on electroviscous flow through a contraction.

The electroviscous flow at low Reynolds number through a two-dimensional slit contraction with electric double-layer overlap is investigated numerically for cases where the permittivity of the wall material is significant in comparison with the permittivity of the liquid. The liquid-solid interface is assumed to have uniform surface-charge density. It is demonstrated that a finite wall permittivity has a marked effect on the distribution of ions in and around the contraction, with a significant build-up of counter-ions observed at the back-step. The development length of the flow increases substantially as the wall permittivity becomes significant, meaning that the electric double-layers require a longer distance to develop within the contraction. Consequently, there is a corresponding decrease in the hydrodynamic and electro-potential resistance caused by the contraction. The effect of wall-region width on the flow characteristics is also quantified, demonstrating that the development length increases with increasing wall-region width for widths up to 5 channel widths.

Forced Convection in Cross Flow of Power Law Fluids Over a Pair of Circular Cylinder in Tandem Arrangement

Forced convection heat transfer characteristics for the flow of incompressible power law fluids over a pair of cylinders (of equal diameters) in tandem arrangement have been studied numerically in the two-dimensional, steady cross-flow regime. The field equations have been solved using a finite volume method based solver (FLUENT 6.2) over the ranges of conditions as follows: power law index (n = 0.4, 1, 1.8), Reynolds number (Re = 1, 40), Prandtl number (Pr = 1, 100), the gap between the two cylinders (G = 2) and for two thermal boundary conditions, namely constant temperature or heat flux prescribed on the surface of the two cylinders. While the upstream cylinder shows heat transfer characteristics similar to that of an isolated cylinder, the downstream cylinder displays a complex dependence on the relevant dimensionless parameters. Both the wake interference and power-law rheology influence the heat transfer characteristics to varying extents. Generally, the upstream cylinder shows higher values of the average Nusselt number than the downstream cylinder. However, the average Nusselt number values for both cylinders are seen to be smaller than that for a single cylinder otherwise under identical conditions. With reference to Newtonian fluids, the shear-thinning behaviour promotes heat transfer whereas shear-thickening lowers it.Copyright

Strain calibration of substrate-free FBG sensors at cryogenic temperature

Strain calibration measurements are performed for acrylate coated, substrate-free fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors at room temperature of 298 K and cryogenic temperature of 77 K. A 1550 nm Bragg wavelength (λB) FBG sensor, with its sensing part not being bonded to any surface, is subjected to axial strain using MTS25 tensile machine available at Cryogenic Material tests Karlsruhe (CryoMaK), KIT. The Bragg wavelength shift (ΔλB) versus induced strain (e) is regressed with a linear polynomial function and the strain sensitivity obtained is found to be 0.9 pm/µe at both the temperatures, verifying that the FBG strain sensitivity is independent of temperature.

Fully Developed Flow of Power-Law Fluid Through a Cylindrical Microfluidic Pipe: Pressure Drop and Electroviscous Effects

Pressure drop and electroviscous effects in the axisymmetric, steady, fully developed, pressure-driven flow of incompressible power-law fluids through a cylindrical microchannel at low Reynolds number (Re = 0.01 ) have been investigated. The Poisson-Boltzmann equation (describing the electrical potential) and the momentum equations in conjunction with electrical force and power-law fluid rheology have been solved numerically using the finite difference method. The pipe wall is considered to have uniform surface charge density (S = 4 ) and the liquid is assumed to be a symmetric electrolyte solution. In particular, the influence of the dimensionless inverse Debye length (K = 2 , 20 ) and power-law flow behaviour index (n = 0.2 , 1 , 1.8 ) on the EDL potential, ion concentrations and charge density profiles, induced electrical field strength, velocity and viscosity profiles and pressure drop have been studied. As expected, the local EDL potential, local charge density and electrical field strength increases with decreasing K and/or increasing S. The velocity profiles cross-over away from the charged pipe wall with increasing K and/or decreasing n. The maximum velocity at the center of the pipe increases with increasing n and/or increasing S and/or decreasing K. The shear-thinning fluid viscosity is strongly dependent on K and S, whereas the shear-thickening viscosity is very weakly dependent on K and S. For fixed K, as the fluid behaviour changes from Newtonian (n = 1 ) to shear-thinning (n 1 ) decreases the electrical field strength and increases the maximum velocity. The non-Newtonian effects on maximum velocity and pressure drop are stronger in shear-thinning fluids at small K and large S, the shear-thickening fluids show opposite influence. Electroviscous effects enhance with decreasing K and/or increasing S. The electroviscous effects show complex dependence on the non-Newtonian tendency of the fluids. The shear-thickening (n > 1 ) fluids and/or smaller K show stronger influence on the pressure drop and thus, enhance the electroviscous effects than that in shear-thinning (n < 1 ) fluids and/or large K where EDL is very thin.Copyright

Computational analysis of magneto-hydrodynamic natural convection in partially differentially heated cavity: Effect of cooler size:

This work presents thermal lattice Boltzmann method simulation of magneto-hydrodynamic, buoyancy-driven convection in a partially differentially heated cavity (aspect ratio = 1) subjected to a magnetic field along the vertical direction, i.e. at 90°. Lattice Boltzmann method simulations are performed for three different cooler lengths (Lc = H/4, H/2, H) placed along the middle of one vertical wall for a wide range of Rayleigh and Hartmann numbers (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 105; Ha = 0, 60, 120) at fixed Prandtl number (Pr = 0.71, air). A partial heater is placed at the center of other vertical walls and its size is kept as half of the characteristic length (H/2). The physical insights of the systems are delineated by systematic analysis of stream function and temperature contours. Heat transfer characteristics of the cavity are elucidated by using averaged values of the Nusselt number. It is noted that average Nusselt number has a proportional dependence with cooler length and Rayleigh number, while it varied inversely with Hartmann number. Further, the functional dependence of average Nusselt number with cooler size, Rayleigh number, and Hartmann number is established for possible use in engineering design purpose.