Flow and heat transfer with pressure gradients, Reynolds number and surface curvature

Abstract

Flow and heat transfer characteristics in laminar flows were investigated with pressure gradients, streamwise distance Reynolds number and wall curvature. Measurements were carried out in a low speed wind tunnel with a dimensionless streamwise pressure gradient kx(= x/u(m) du(m)/d(x)) between -0.4 and 1.0. Results were compared with analytical solutions and numerical predictions and a new empirical equation as a function of k(x). It was found that Stanton numbers augmentation with Reynolds number became more pronounced than concave curvature. Favourable pressure gradients caused heat transfer to increase and adverse pressure gradients to decrease. The also results showed that the distribution of Stanton numbers with acceleration has similar trends with analytical solutions and numerical predictions. The proposed equation showed much better agreement with the measured Stanton numbers, in case of both adverse and favourable pressure gradients.