10/21/13 Chemical Files: Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

Author Raj P. Mehta

Nomenclature:

D = diameter of pipe
DH = Hydraulic diameter
L = Length of the pipe
Lch = characteristic length
R = Length through which conduction occurs.
u = mean characteristic velocity of the object relative to the fluid.
Vch = Characteristic velocity
Cp = specific heat capacity at constant pressure.
k = thermal conductivity
μ = dynamic viscosity of the fluid
= density of fluid.
DAB = mass diffusivity
h = heat transfer coefficient.
g = acceleration due to earths gravity.
t = characteristic time
ν = Kinematic viscosity of fluid.
α = Thermal diffusivity
β = volumetric thermal expansion coefficient ( = 1/T for ideal fluids, T = absolute temperature)
Ts = surface temperature
T ∞ = Bulk Temperature

Significance:

Ratio of Inertial forces to viscous forces.

Primarily used to analyse different flow regimes namely Laminar, Turbulent, or both.

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10/21/13 Chemical Files: Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

When Viscous forces are dominant its a laminar flow & when Inertial forces are dominant it
is a Turbulent flow.
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Significance:
Depends only on fluid & its properties. It is also ratio of velocity boundary layer to
thermal boundary layer
Pr = small, implies that rate of thermal diffusion (heat) is more than the rate of momentum
diffusion (velocity).
Also the thickness of thermal boundary layer is much larger than the velocity boundary
layer.
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10/21/13 Chemical Files: Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

Significance:

Analogous of Prandtl number in Heat Transfer.

Used in fluid flows in which there is simultaneous momentum & mass diffusion.
It is also ratio of fluid boundary layer to mass transfer boundary layer thickness.
To find mass transfer coefficient using Sherwood number, we need Schmidt number.
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Significance:
Ratio of thermal diffusivity to mass diffusivity.
Fluid flow with simultaneous Heat & mass transfer by convection.
It is also ratio of Schmidt number to Prandtl number
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10/21/13 Chemical Files: Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

Significance:
Heat

transported by convection to Heat transported by conduction.

Product of Re & Pr for Pe(HT) & product of Re & SC for Pe(MT)
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Significance:
It is the
ratio

of heat transferred to the fluid to the heat transported by the fluid (ratio of Nusselt
number to Peclet number)
Used to find heat transfer in forced convection flows.
St(HT) = Nu/(Re.Pr) & St(MT) = Sh/(Re.Sc)
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10/21/13 Chemical Files: Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

Significance:
A) Sherwood
Number:
Ratio of Convective to diffusive mass transport. Used in mass transfer operations.
Analogous of Nusselt number in Heat transfer OR Sherwood number is Nusselt number for
mass transfer.
B) Nusselt Number
Ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer coefficient across the boundary layer.
Low Nu => conduction is more => Laminar flow
High Nu => convection is more=> Turbulent flow.
It can also be viewed as conduction resistance to convection resistance of the material.
Free convection: Nu = f(Ra, Pr)
Forced Convection: Nu = f(Re, Pr)
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10/21/13 Chemical Files: Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

Significance:
Ratio

of Buoyancy force to viscous force in natural convection.

Reynolds number is used in forced convection of fluid flow, whereas Grashof number
is used in natural convection.
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Significance:
used in unsteady state (transient) heat transfer conditions.
ratio of heat transfer resistance inside the body to heat transfer resistance at the
surface of the body. OR ratio of internal thermal resistance to external thermal
resistance .
Shows the variation of temperature inside the body w.r.t to time.
Bi < 0.1 => heat transfer resistance inside the body is very low => inside the
bodyconduction takes place faster compared to convection at the surface. => no
temperature gradient inside the body (uniformity in temperature) vice versa implies that
Temperature is not uniform throughout hte material volume.
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10/21/13 Chemical Files: Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

Significance:
It shows the presence & strength of convection in a fluid body.
Heat transfer by Conduction within fluid < Critical value for that fluid < Heat transfer by
convection. (consequences of Ra values)
Product of Gr.Pr
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Significance:

Characterizes laminar flow in a conduit OR transfer of heat by streamline fluid flow in

a pipe
In case of mass transfer, Pr is replaced by Sc.
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10/21/13 Chemical Files: Dimensionless Numbers & their Significance

Significance:

Ratio of rate of heat conduction to the rate of heat storage.

Used along with Biot number to solve transient state heat transfer problems.
For mass transfer by diffusion, Fourier number for MT is used.
It can also be understood as current time to the time taken to reach steady state.

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