Transport Phenomena - Heat Transfer Problem :

Forced convection heat transfer for plug flow in

circular tube
- constant wall heat flux in thermally fully developed
flow region

Problem.
A very thick slurry flows in a circular tube of radius R. Since it flows nearly as a solid
plug, the velocity profile is approximately flat over the pipe cross-section and vz = V
(constant) may be assumed. For z < 0, the fluid temperature is uniform at the inlet
temperature T1. For z > 0, heat is added at a uniform constant radial flux q0 through the
tube wall. The axial heat conduction and viscous dissipation effect may be neglected. The
thermal conductivity k and thermal diffusivity  may be assumed constant.

Figure. Plug flow in circular tube being heated by a uniform heat flux.

a) Show that the temperature profile T(r, z) far downstream in the thermally fully
developed region (i.e., for large z) is given by the following dimensionless asymptotic
solution:

where

b) Show that the limiting local Nusselt number far downstream for plug flow in a circular
tube with constant wall heat flux is Nu = 8.
Solution.
Click here for stepwise solution

Click here for stepwise solution

Step. Differential equation and boundary conditions

Step. Differential equation and boundary conditions

For forced convection heat transfer, the equation of energy (on neglecting the viscous
dissipation effect) simplifies to

(1)

In cylindrical coordinates for flow in a circular tube, the above equation gives

(2)

where is the thermal diffusivity. Note that the heat conduction in the axial
direction is neglected because it is typically small compared to the heat convection in the
axial direction. The solution of the above partial differential equation gives the
temperature profile T(r, z).

For plug flow, vz = V (constant) and the above equation in dimensionless form is

(3)

where the dimensionless quantities are defined as

(4)
The dimensionless quantities are typically chosen such that the number of parameters in
the problem is minimized. In this problem, the choice of dimensionless radial coordinate
 and the dimensionless axial coordinate  naturally follow from the differential equation,
while the choice of the dimensionless temperature  truly follows from the boundary
conditions (BC 2 and BC 3) given below.

The boundary conditions are given by

(5)

(6)

(7)

The second boundary condition states that heat is added at a uniform constant radial flux
through the tube wall, i.e., qr = q0 at r = R with qr in accordance with Fourier's law.

Step. Temperature profile in thermally fully developed region

Step. Temperature profile in thermally fully developed region

The asymptotic solution far downstream in the thermally fully developed region (i.e.,
large ) is postulated to be of the form:

(8)

where C0 is a constant to be determined. The above form suggests that the constant wall
heat flux will cause the fluid temperature to rise linearly with  once the fluid is far
downstream from the start of the heated section. Furthermore, the shape of the
temperature profile T(r) will eventually remain the same for increasing values of z.

On substituting the above form for  in the partial differential equation (3), the following
ordinary differential equation is obtained.

(9)
On integrating twice, we get

(10)

Thus, the dimensionless temperature profile is of the form:

(11)

On imposing the boundary conditions, BC 1 gives C1 = 0 and BC 2 gives C0 = 2.

However, it is not possible to satisfy BC 3 because the postulated function is the
asymptotic solution (and not the complete solution); therefore, BC 3 is replaced by the
following condition:

(12)

The above condition states the heat entering through the wall over the distance z equals
the heat leaving with the fluid at z (with T1 as the reference temperature at z = 0). On
substituting the temperature profile and integrating, the condition gives

(13)

On substituting C0 = 2, C1 = 0 and C2 = 1/4, the asymptotic solution for the

dimensionless temperature profile in the thermally fully developed region is finally
obtained as

(14)

Step. Calculation of bulk temperature

Step. Calculation of bulk temperature

The bulk temperature is defined as the temperature obtained if the fluid flowing at z were
collected in a vessel and completely mixed. This average temperature is therefore also
called the flow-average temperature or the cup-mixing temperature. Thus, the bulk
temperature is mathematically defined by

(15)

On substituting the temperature and velocity distributions, integration gives the bulk
temperature as
(16
)

Step. Expression for Nusselt number

Step. Expression for Nusselt number

The heat flux is the product of the heat transfer coefficient h and the local heat transfer
driving force (which is the difference between the wall temperature and the bulk
temperature at an axial distance z). Thus,

(17)

Thus the Nusselt number for plug flow in a circular tube far downstream for constant
wall heat flux is

(18)

Note that the characteristic length used above is the tube diameter D (= 2R).

Related Problems in Transport Phenomena - Heat Transfer :

Transport Phenomena - Heat Transfer Problem : Forced convection heat transfer for plug
flow in plane slit
- Similar problem for narrow slit in Cartesian coordinates rather than circular tube in cylindrical
coordinates