Conjugate heat transfer analysis of liquid metal turbulent flow through a horizontal channel by LES

Abstract

Conjugate heat transfer analysis of liquid metal turbulent flow through a horizontal channel has been numerically studied using a large eddy simulation (LES) technique. The effect of wall thickness and heat conduction in the wall on flow and thermal characteristics of low Prandtl number liquid metals has been investigated and reported here. Results are presented for three different liquid metal flows with different Reynolds numbers and different wall materials with wall thickness. The flow field is modeled as transient two-dimensional incompressible turbulent forced convection flow. Wall Adapting Local Eddy Viscosity (WALE) sub-grid scale (SGS) model is used to solve the turbulence closure. Two-dimensional transient heat conduction equation is solved to know the temperature distribution in the wall. A finite difference method solver is developed for solving the governing equations using sixth-order accuracy of compact schemes. Prandtl number and Reynolds number alter the heat transfer characteristics. Wall thickness shows a significant effect on the convective heat transfer rate. The new correlation of average Nusselt number has been proposed, including the effect of wall thickness for constant heat flux boundary condition. The present results are validated with DNS data and experimental results available in the literature.