Pressure drop and heat transfer associated with flows moving laminarly in straight ducts of irregular, singly connected cross-sections

• DOI: 10.1007/s002310050111
• Publication Date: 2002-08-25T07:47:25Z
• Authors: A. Campo; J. C. Morales; A. E. Larreteguy
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

This paper presents a fast and dependable numerical procedure for the solution of the fully established velocity and temperature of low-Reynolds number flows inside straight ducts with irregular, singly connected cross sections. Relying on finite volume discretizations of the momentum and energy equations in a boundary-fitted coordinate system, the procedure has been applied with great success to a wide variety of ducts whose cross sections present different levels of difficulty. Numerical predictions for the pressure drop (friction factor) and the heat transfer rate (Nusselt number) for a sample of simple ducts are compared with benchmark results published by other researchers. Other numerical predictions for complex shapes where results are absent in the literature are compared among themselves using various degrees of refinement for the grids. In general, for a sub-family of ducts characterized by a geometric parameter, e.g. elliptic, moon, sine and rhombic, the data can be post-processed and correlation equations of special interest to design engineers can be easily deduced.