Abstract:
The heat transfer between a uniformly heated pipe within its entire wall
thickness and an internal laminar fluid flow is considered. We present the results of the 3D
numerical simulation of the conjugate heat transfer: mixed convection in the fluid and
conduction in the wall. The dynamic viscosity, the thermal conductivity and the density of
the fluid are temperature dependent. The thermal losses between the outer surface of the
duct and the ambient are considered. The model equations are numerically solved by the
finite volumes method. The sequential solution of the discretization equations of the
computed variables follows the SIMPLER algorithm. The iterative solution of a system of
discretization equations is achieved by the sweeping method using the Thomas algorithm
and the tri diagonal cyclic algorithm. The computer code is perfectly validated by comparison
with experimental results published in the specialized literature. The influence of the pipe
material conductivity on the heat transfer and the fluid flow is analyzed for three different
materials: inconel, tantalum and steel. It is found that the heat transfer is enhanced by an
increase of the thermal conductivity of the pipe wall. Moreover, we can conclude that the
inconel material pipe provides better heat transfer
