LOW REYNOLDS NUMBER CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER ACROSS A CIRCULAR CYLINDER WITH UNIFORM VOLUMETRIC ENERGY DISSIPATION

Abstract

Flow and heat transfer across a circular cylinder with uniform volumetric energy dissipation under unconfined condition was numerically investigated using Ansys Fluent 12.0. The fluid was water with Prandtl number 7. The Reynolds number varied from 10 to 40. The results were compared with constant surface temperature and constant heat flux at the surface of the cylinder. It was found that the average Nusselt numbers with uniform energy dissipation (UED) in the cylinder were about 11% lower than those with constant heat flux (CHF) boundary condition and approximately 4% higher than those with constant surface temperature (CST) boundary condition. The average Nusselt numbers under different boundary conditions were also correlated with the Reynolds numbers.