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Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 1301–1310

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Chemical Engineering Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ces

A generalized approach to heat transfer in pipe flow with internal

heat generation
Valentino Di Marcello , Antonio Cammi, Lelio Luzzi
Politecnico di Milano - Department of Energy, CeSNEF (Enrico Fermi Center for Nuclear Studies), via Ponzio 34/3 - 20133 Milano, Italy

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Article history: In the last few years, there has been a renewed interest in the molten salt reactor (MSR), one of the
Received 31 March 2009 ‘‘Generation IV International Forum’’ concepts, which adopts a circulating molten salt mixture as both
Received in revised form heat generator (fuel) and coolant. The heat transfer of a fluid with internal heat generation depends on
30 September 2009
the strength of the source whose influence on the heat exchange process is significant enough to
Accepted 3 October 2009
Available online 13 October 2009
demand consideration. At present, few studies have been performed on the subject from either an
experimental or a numerical point of view.
Keywords: This study considers fluids with a wide range of Reynolds numbers, flowing through smooth and
Heat transfer straight circular tubes within which the flow is hydrodynamically developed but thermally developing
Turbulence
(conditions of interest for MSR core channels). The study aims at an assessment of the heat transfer
Internally heat generating fluid
modelling for a large variety of fluids (with Prandtl numbers in the range 0 r Prr 104), in particular
Molten salt reactor
taking into account the influence of the internal heat generation on the temperature distribution, which
plays an important role in the case of molten salts for nuclear reactors. To this purpose, the general and
unified solution of the heat transfer equation is applied to the turbulent Graetz problem with boundary
conditions of the third kind and arbitrary heat source distribution, incorporating recent formulations for
turbulent flow and convection.
Computed results are shown to be in a good agreement with experimental data concerning heat
transfer evaluations for both fully developed and thermally developing flow conditions, over a large
range of Prandtl numbers (10  2 o Pro 104). Finally, a preliminary correlation, which includes the
Prandtl number range of interest for molten salts, is proposed for the Nusselt number predictions in the
case of simultaneous uniform wall heat flux and internal heat generation.
& 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction satisfactory in the light of recent investigations (Kays, 1994;

The problem of heat transfer in pipe flow has been extensively
investigated in the past. Many different models have been
proposed and utilized to predict the velocity profile, the eddy
diffusivity, the temperature distributions, the friction factor and
the heat transfer coefficient (Bhatti and Shah, 1987; Yakhot et al.,
1987; Schlichting and Gersten, 2000; Kays et al., 2004). However,
the majority of such studies give a description of the problem for
non-internally heated fluids. According to the authors’ knowledge,
models regarding fluids with internal heat generation have been
performed more than 30 years ago (Poppendiek, 1954; Sparrow
and Siegel, 1958; Siegel and Sparrow, 1959; Kinney and Sparrow,
1966), giving in most cases a partial treatment of the problem in
terms of boundary conditions and heat source distribution, and
relying on a turbulent flow treatment that does not seem fully
 Corresponding author. Tel.: + 39 02 2399 6326; fax: +39 02 2399 6309.
E-mail address: valentino.dimarcello@mail.polimi.it (V. Di Marcello).
Zagarola and Smits, 1997; Churchill, 1997, 2002).
Fluids exploiting such a special characteristic are of great
interest for current nuclear technology. The molten salt reactor
(MSR) (Hron et al., 2006; Forsberg et al., 2007) is one of the
promising high temperature nuclear reactor types for the future
generation of electricity and heat for hydrogen production, as well
as for the transmutation of nuclear waste. The MSR employs a
non-classical fuel type constituted by a circulating molten fluoride
(or chloride) salt mixture within which the fission material
is dissolved. By adopting classical correlations for the Nusselt
number (e.g., Dittus–Boelter), the heat transfer coefficient of
the MSR fuel can be overestimated by a non-negligible amount
(Di Marcello et al., 2008a). In the case of thermal spectrum MSRs,
this has significant consequences on the graphite temperature
predictions and on the reactor dynamic behaviour (Di Marcello
et al., 2008b). Therefore the influence of the heat source within
the fluid is important, and requires further investigation.
This paper aims at a preliminary assessment of the heat
transfer of fluids by means of a unified and general treatment,
which also considers the heat generation in smooth, straight

0009-2509/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ces.2009.10.004
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1302 V. Di Marcello et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 1301–1310

circular tubes when the flow is hydrodynamically developed, but 1. axial-symmetric conditions are taken into account;
thermally developing. This situation is consistent with the flow 2. steady-state exists;
characteristics encountered in the MSR core channels, both 3. the fluid is incompressible with no phase change, and constant
in steady-state and transient operation (Mandin et al., 2005; physical properties (consequently, the velocity problem is
Di Marcello et al., 2008b). A generalized analytic approach is uncoupled from the temperature problem);
undertaken for this purpose, consisting of boundary conditions of 4. the hydrodynamic pattern is established;
the third kind with arbitrary axial distribution, arbitrary inlet 5. natural convection effects are negligible, so that, because of
temperature radial distribution and arbitrary variations of inter- assumption 4, there are no components of the time-averaged
nal heat source in both the radial and axial directions. Such an velocity normal to the pipe axis;
analytic model offers a useful validation framework for testing 6. the average temperature at any radius does not vary with time
commercial codes and is also an excellent building-block case for or angular position; and
testing turbulence models in view of their application to analysis 7. axial conduction of heat is negligible.
of more complex and design-oriented geometries.
In principle, the adopted model is applicable and valid for The last assumption has been shown by Weigand et al. (2001) to
annular tubes and parallel plate channels but, in the interest of introduce a negligible error for Pe 420 and can be considered
simplicity and practicality, the results herein are limited to acceptable within the scope of the present work. Nevertheless, it
circular pipes. Since the development of the model and the must be pointed out that the Peclet number can be smaller than
derivation of the solution are described in detail in Mikhailov and 20 when liquid metals with low Reynolds number are used.
+ -ik (1984), only those expressions essential to understanding
Ozis Furthermore, axial heat conduction effects can be significant for a
are reproduced herein. short finite length of heated section also for Peclet number larger
In order to obtain the solution of the turbulent Graetz problem than 100 (Weigand et al., 2001).
(Graetz, 1883, 1885), the reinterpretation of turbulent flow and Under the previous hypotheses, the energy equation can be
convection of Churchill (2002) is considered, so that the eddy written as follows:
diffusivity and thus the velocity profile is expressed in terms of   @Tðr; zÞ Q ðr; zÞ
@Tðr; zÞ 1 @ n
the local turbulent shear stress. On the other hand, the turbulent u ¼ r þ eH þ ð1Þ
Prandtl number (PrT) remains an essential (and critical) piece of
@z r @r Pr @r rCP
information, and the effect of choosing different PrT correlations is where u and eH depend only on the radial coordinate.
also investigated. The boundary conditions for Eq. (1) at r = 0 (at the pipe
The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides a centreline) must be of the second kind (see Eq. (2a)) because of
summary of the generalized analytic approach, including a brief assumption 1, while at r = r0 (at the pipe wall) they can be taken as
description of the employed turbulent flow formulation. In any combination of the boundary conditions of the first, second,
Section 3, the method of solution and its accuracy is described. and third kind, as expressed by Eqs. (2b)–(2d), respectively:
Section 4 deals with the discussion of the numerical results on the 
basis of their comparison with experimental data (low Prandtl @Tðr; zÞ
 ¼0 ð2aÞ
fluids, high Prandtl fluids and fluids with internal heat genera- @r 
r¼0
tion), including a proposal for a Nusselt number correlation in  
order to take into account the effect of the internal heat source. @Tðr; zÞ  k @Tðr; zÞ
Tðr0 ; zÞ ¼ TW ðzÞ;  k  ¼ jW ðzÞ; Tðr0 ; zÞ   ¼ TE ðzÞ
Finally, Section 5 draws some conclusions. @r r ¼ r hW @r r ¼ r
0 0

ð2b; c; dÞ
2. General solution of the heat transfer problem Finally, the boundary condition at the pipe entrance (z =0) is given
by Eq. (3):
The problems of heat transfer by forced convection of fluids Tðr; 0Þ ¼ TIN ðrÞ ð3Þ
inside conduits are generally referred to as the Graetz problem,
since Graetz (1883, 1885) appears to have been the first In order to get the solution of the Eq. (1) with the boundary
investigator who was involved in this subject. Numerous exten- conditions (2) and (3), it is often convenient to express it in the
sions of the original problem have been reported in literature. In dimensionless form by introducing the dimensionless variables,
this section, a general mathematical formulation is described defined by the set of Eqs. (4):
+ - ik, 1984), since it proves useful in appro-
(Mikhailov and Ozis r
R¼ ð4aÞ
priately treating the heat transfer characteristics of systems r0
containing flowing fluids with internal heat generation.
The considered analytic model applies to smooth, straight and 2z
Z¼ ð4bÞ
round pipes, with uniform cross-section, within which the fluid Re Pr r0
flow is hydrodynamically developed, but thermally developing, as
Tðr; zÞ  T 
depicted in Fig. 1, under the following assumptions: yðR; ZÞ ¼ ð4cÞ
DT
TW ðzÞ  T 
yW ðZÞ ¼ ð4dÞ
DT
TE ðzÞ  T 
yE ðZÞ ¼ ð4eÞ
DT
TIN ðrÞ  T 
yIN ðZÞ ¼ ð4fÞ
DT
jW ðzÞr0
JW ðZÞ ¼ ð4gÞ
Fig. 1. Geometrical configuration and coordinate system. kDT
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
V. Di Marcello et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 1301–1310 1303

hW r0 equation (12) with its boundary conditions (13):

Bi ¼ ð4hÞ  
k d dci ðRÞ
RgðRÞ þ ½m2i Rf ðRÞci ðRÞ ¼ 0 ð12Þ
u dR dR
f ðRÞ ¼ ð4iÞ
uavg  
dci ðRÞ  dci ðRÞ
n=Pr þ eH  ¼ 0; aci ð1Þ  b  gð1Þ   ¼0 ð13a; bÞ
gðRÞ ¼ ð4jÞ dR  dR 
R¼0 R¼1
n=Pr
Imposing the boundary condition (6c) to Eq. (10) and exploiting
Q ðr; zÞ  r02 the orthogonality property of the eigenfunctions, the coefficients
SðR; ZÞ ¼ ð4kÞ
kDT Ci can be evaluated as follows:
R1
Substitution of the foregoing expressions into Eq. (1) yields R  ½yIN ðRÞ  y0 ðRÞ  f ðRÞ  ci ðRÞ dR
the dimensionless form of the heat transfer equation repre- Ci ¼ 0 R1 2
ð14Þ
0 R  f ðRÞ  ci ðRÞ dR
sented by Eq. (5), while the boundary conditions are given by
Eqs. (6): A particular case of the examined problem occurs when all
  the boundary conditions are of the second kind (i.e., when a =0
@yðR; ZÞ 1 @ @yðR; ZÞ
f ðRÞ ¼ RgðRÞ þSðR; ZÞ in 0 oR o 1 ð5Þ and b = 1). In this case, the first eigenvalue of the associated
@Z R @R @R
Sturm–Liouville problem is zero (m0 = 0) and the corresponding
 eigenfunction is constant (c0 = const.). It can be demonstrated
@yðR; ZÞ + - ik, 1984) that this result implies the addition
 ¼0 ð6aÞ (Mikhailov and Ozis
@R 
R¼0 of a term in Eq. (10), which represents an average temperature
 over the region, according to Eqs. (15) and (16):
@yðR; ZÞ
ayð1; ZÞ  b  ¼ fðZÞ ð6bÞ q
X X
1
@R  yðR; ZÞ ¼ yAV ðZÞ þ yj ðRÞ  Z j þ
2
Ci emi Z ci ðRÞ ð15Þ
R¼1
j¼0 i¼1
yðR; 0Þ ¼ yIN ðRÞ ð6cÞ (Z " # )
1 Z Z Z 1
The generalized boundary condition expressed by Eq. (6b) yAV ðZÞ ¼ Rf ðRÞyIN ðRÞ dR þ fðZ 0 Þ þ PðR; Z 0 Þ dR dZ 0
can yield any of the boundary conditions of first, second, or 0 0 0
(Z )1
third kind if the coefficients a, b, and the function f(Z) are chosen 1
as  Rf ðRÞ dR ð16Þ
0
First kind : a ¼ 1; b ¼ 0; fðZÞ ¼ yW ðZÞ ð7aÞ

Second kind : a ¼ 0; b ¼ 1; fðZÞ ¼ JW ðZÞ ð7bÞ In the particular case considered, the expressions for yj ðRÞ and Ci
are given by Eqs. (17) and (19), respectively:
Third kind : a ¼ 1; b ¼ 1=Bi; fðZÞ ¼ yE ðZÞ ð7cÞ " Z 1 #"Z Z 1 #
1 2
 h ðRÞ hðR0 Þ 0
The solution of the boundary value problem defined by Eqs. (5) yj ðRÞ ¼ fj þ Pj ðRÞ dR dR  dR
0 RgðRÞ R R gðR Þ
0 0
0
and (6) is obtained by means of the so-called ‘‘splitting-up Z 1 Z R00
procedure’’, for which details are given in Mikhailov and Ozis + -ik 1 
þ ½Pj ðR0 Þ  ðj þ 1ÞR0 f ðR0 Þyj þ 1 ðR0 Þ dR0 dR00
R R gðR Þ 0
00 00
(1984). Z 1 Z R
Such a procedure applies if the non-homogeneous term f(Z) hðRÞ 
 ½Pj ðR0 Þ  ðj þ 1ÞR0 f ðR0 Þyj þ 1 ðR0 Þ dR0 dR ð17Þ
and the term P(R,Z)= R  S(R,Z) can be expressed in terms of q-order 0 RgðRÞ 0
polynomials of the axial coordinate Z, as shown in Eqs. (8) and (9),
and consists in splitting-up the solution of the original problem 
where j =q, q  1, q 2,y,1,0, yq þ 1 ðRÞ ¼ 0 and h(R) is given by the
into two parts as given by Eq. (10): following expression:
q
X RR 0 0
fðZÞ ¼ fj  Z j ð8Þ R f ðR Þ dR0
hðRÞ ¼ R0 1 ð18Þ
0 Rf ðRÞ dR
j¼0

q
X R1
PðR; ZÞ ¼ Pj ðRÞ  Z j ð9Þ 0 R  ½yIN ðRÞ  yAV ð0Þ  y0 ðRÞ  f ðRÞ  ci ðRÞ dR
Ci ¼ R1 2
ð19Þ
0 R  f ðRÞ  ci ðRÞ dR
j¼0

q
X X
1 Once the temperature distribution, y(R,Z), in the flow is
2
yðR; ZÞ ¼ yj ðRÞ  Z j þ Ci emi Z ci ðRÞ ð10Þ determined, the Nusselt number, to which the results presented
j¼0 i¼1 in this work refer, can be evaluated by means of Eqs. (20) and (21):
( Z @yðR; ZÞ=@RjR ¼ 1
1
1 NuðZÞ ¼ 2 ð20Þ
yj ðRÞ ¼ fj þ b ½Pj ðRÞ  ðj þ 1ÞRf ðRÞyj þ 1 ðRÞ dR yð1; ZÞ  yBulk ðZÞ
a 0
Z Z R ) R1
1
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rf ðRÞyðR; ZÞ dR
þa ½Pj ðR Þ  ðj þ1ÞR f ðR Þyj þ 1 ðR Þ dR dR yBulk ðZÞ ¼ R1 ð21Þ
0 RgðRÞ 0
0 Rf ðRÞ dR
Z R Z R00
1
 ½Pj ðR0 Þ  ðj þ1ÞR0 f ðR0 Þyj þ 1 ðR0 Þ dR0 dR00 ð11Þ
0 RgðR Þ 0
00

2.1. Turbulent flow formulation

Here, j =q, q  1, q  2,y,1,0 and yq + 1(R)=0. ci(R) and mi are the
eigenfunctions and the eigenvalues, respectively, of the well- The model previously described can be applied both to laminar
known Sturm–Liouville problem represented by the differential and turbulent flow. In the first case the solution can be obtained
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by considering the Hagen–Poiseuille parabolic velocity profile and 2.2. The turbulent Prandtl number
zero eddy diffusivity, i.e.: f(R)= 2(1 R2) and g(R) =1.
In the past, the differential and integral expressions for turbulent Many empirical and semi-theoretical correlating equations
flow have generally been formulated in terms of an eddy diffusivity have been proposed in the past for the turbulent Prandtl number
or a mixing length for momentum transfer, but as shown by (PrT). Reynolds (1975) reviewed more than 30 expressions of this
Churchill (1997), these two concepts are both related algebraically kind. More recently Kays (1994) examined, with an extensive
to the local turbulent shear stress. This approach has been adopted
in the present paper in order to solve the model described in the
previous section, and will be hereinafter summarized.
The eddy diffusivity concept, suggested by Boussinesq (1877),
introduces the following definitions:
 
@u
u0 v0 ¼  eM ð22Þ
@y
 
@T
T 0 v0 ¼  eH ð23Þ
@y
Now, the turbulent Prandtl number can be defined as
eM
PrT ¼ ð24Þ
eH
The relationship between the eddy diffusivity for momentum and
the dimensionless turbulent shear stress, ðu0 v0 Þ þ þ , in hydrodyna-
mically developed flow, is a one-to-one correspondence (Churchill,
1997), as revealed by Eq. (25):
eM ðu0 v0 Þ þ þ
¼ ð25Þ
n 1  ðu0 v0 Þ þ þ
where
 
rðu0 v0 Þ y l
ðu0 v0 Þ þ þ ¼  ; t ¼ tW 1  ; tW ¼ ru2avg ð26a; b; cÞ
t r0 8
From Eqs. (22) and (25), the velocity can be obtained, as follows:
Z
tW r0 1
uðRÞ ¼ R½1  ðu0 v0 Þ þ þ  dR ð27Þ
m R

In order to obtain explicitly the velocity profile and the eddy

diffusivity for the heat equation, needed to solve the original (1),
expressions for the dimensionless turbulent shear stress, the
friction factor and the turbulent Prandtl number (this last
parameter is discussed in the next section) are required. For the
first one, the correlation suggested by Heng et al. (1998), based on
the recent turbulent velocity measurements of Zagarola and Smits
(1997) and reported in Eq. (28), has been adopted for the analyses.
This correlation falls within the scatter of the best experimental
data (Churchill and Zajic, 2002) and its associated uncertainties
are not found to influence the Nusselt number predictions
significantly (Churchill et al., 2005):
8"
<  þ 3 #8=7   
y  2:294
ðu v Þ
0 0 þþ
¼ 0:7 þ exp
: 10 y þ

  8=7
2:294 6:95y þ 
 þ 1þ  g7=8 ð28Þ
a aþ
This equation is valid in turbulent hydrodynamically developed
flow in a circular tube for any kind of thermal boundary
conditions. It becomes inapplicable for a + o150 because of the
onset of laminar flow. Eq. (28) confirms itself suitable also for
fluids with internal heat generation, like the molten salt nuclear
fuels, as will be shown in Section 4.3.
As concerns the Darcy friction factor, the recent correlation
proposed by Guo and Julien (2003) has been used since it predicts
the values determined experimentally by Zagarola and Smits
(1997) very well, and its form is preferable in terms of explicitness
and simplicity, as shown by Eq. (29): Fig. 2. Solution for Re =104, Pr= 1, yW(Z) =Z  Z2/L, yIN(R) = 0 and S(R,Z) =const: (a)
 1=8 dimensionless temperature distribution; (b) dimensionless radial temperature
0:3164 Re
l¼ 1 þ ð29Þ profile at different axial positions; and (c) Nusselt number profile with the axial
Re1=4 4:31  105 coordinate.
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V. Di Marcello et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 1301–1310 1305

detail, theoretical and experimental results and correlating
equations for PrT. Churchill (2002) concluded in his fundamental
reinterpretation of the turbulent Prandtl number that a reliable
and comprehensive expression for the prediction of PrT does not
yet exist. However, the effect of PrT is limited to low Prandtl
number fluids (Pr{1), and it is actually significant for Pr near 0.01
(Churchill, 2002), decreasing its importance when Pr departs from
this value. It can be said that the evaluation of PrT remains a
critical and unsolved issue and can be significant enough when
liquid metals are under consideration as it will be shown in
Section 4.1. The correlation proposed by Kays (1994) and reported
in Eq. (30) has been chosen for the analyses as representative of
PrT, since this expression was found to be in a good agreement
with most experimental and computed values of the turbulent
Prandtl number (Kays, 1994):
 
0:7 1  ðu0 v0 Þ þ þ
PrT ¼ 0:85 þ þþ ð30Þ
Pr ðu v Þ
0 0
As suggested by Kays (1994), a coefficient of 2.0 rather than 0.7
should be used for liquid metals. The adoption of Eq. (30) for PrT
represents just a reasonable choice among the several correlations
existing in literature.
3. Method and accuracy of solution
The solution of the model described in Section 2 has been
achieved by means of Matlab ver 6.5 (The MathWorks Inc.). The
Sturm–Liouville problem is solved using the LiScEig package
(Trif, 1995), which calculates a finite number of numerical
eigenvalues and eigenfunctions according to the radial discretiza-
tion. The package was tested by computing eigenvalues and
eigenfunctions in laminar flow. Results were compared with those
achieved by Hsu (1968) and the same values were obtained both in
the case of uniform wall temperature and uniform wall heat flux.
An analytic expression is required by this package for the term
f(R), and thus for the velocity (see Eqs. (4i) and (12)). However, the
integral of Eq. (27), by using Eq. (28) for the dimensionless
turbulent shear stress, cannot be solved analytically. For this
reason, the numerical velocity profile, obtained thanks to the
adaptive Simpson quadrature, is interpolated by means of a
polynomial of high order. The remaining integrals of Eqs. (11),
(14), (16)–(19) and (21) are solved numerically using the
trapezoidal rule. An example of a solution with uniform internal
heat source and boundary conditions of first kind, having a
parabolic shape along axial direction, is given in Fig. 2.
To assess the accuracy of the present calculations, a comparison
with the numerical results of Yu et al. (2001) has been performed
for the cases of uniform wall temperature and uniform wall heat
flux. Fully developed flow conditions have been chosen in order to
eliminate possible inaccuracies introduced by considering the
thermal entry region (Heng et al., 1998). Moreover, according to
authors’ knowledge, there are no studies in literature regarding
thermally developing flow with the same turbulence formulation
and numerical precision of results achieved by Yu et al. (2001). As a
matter of fact, the computations of Yu et al. concerning the Nusselt
number can be considered essentially exact for Pr=0 and Pr=PrT.
The uncertainty for the other Pr values arise from that related to
the choice of the turbulent Prandtl number correlation (Heng et al.,
1998; Churchill, 2002).
The comparison, performed with the same PrT correlation
considered by Yu et al. (i.e., that one developed by Jischa and
Rieke, 1979), is presented in Table 1, only in the case of uniform
wall heat flux for brevity.
Present results are in a very good agreement with those
obtained by Yu et al. (2001) with errors below 0.5%. The
discrepancies reported in Table 1 are due to different sources of
uncertainty. Namely: (1) the discretization in radial direction, and
thus the numerical evaluation of integrals; (2) the limited
numbers of eigenvalues considered; and (3) the interpolation of
the velocity profile.
4. Results and discussion
In the present section, results of the analyses are compared with
several experimental data of Nusselt number for fluids with small
and large Prandtl numbers, and additionally for fluids with internal
heat generation. Moreover, a Nusselt number correlation is proposed,
which includes the internal heat source term and comprises the
Prandtl number of interest for molten salts applications.

Table 1
Comparison between Nusselt number results of Yu et al. (2001) and present calculations (in bold) in fully developed flow conditions with uniform wall heat flux for various
Re and Pr values.

Small Pr
Pr 0 10  3 10  2 10 1 0.8673
a+ Re  10  3 Nu

150 3.986 5.890 5.890 0.00 5.892 5.893 0.02 6.017 6.018 0.02 8.392 8.394 0.02 18.73 18.70 0.16
500 17.00 6.480 6.481 0.02 6.489 6.491 0.03 7.073 7.074 0.01 16.67 16.68 0.06 53.63 53.60 0.06
1000 37.63 6.675 6.676 0.01 6.694 6.696 0.03 7.927 7.929 0.03 26.70 26.71 0.04 99.45 99.50 0.05
2000 82.07 6.808 6.814 0.09 6.848 6.854 0.09 9.327 9.335 0.09 44.39 44.44 0.11 185.3 185.5 0.11
5000 226.9 6.932 6.923 0.13 7.035 7.025 0.14 12.95 12.93 0.15 90.62 90.56 0.07 424.1 424.6 0.12
10 000 485.9 7.004 6.984 0.29 7.210 7.190 0.28 18.25 18.20 0.27 159.1 158.8 0.19 796.7 798.2 0.19
20 000 1036 7.063 7.037 0.37 7.476 7.449 0.36 27.63 27.54 0.33 283.3 282.8 0.18 1502 1503 0.07

Large Pr
Pr 1 10 102 103 104
a+ Re  10  3 Nu/(0.07343(Pr/PrT)1/3 Re(l/8)1/2)

150 3.986 0.8579 0.8581 0.02 0.9505 0.9506 0.01 0.9824 0.9841 0.17 0.9917 0.9949 0.32 0.9931 0.9930 0.01
500 17.00 0.7462 0.7461 0.01 0.9227 0.9245 0.20 0.9794 0.9833 0.40 0.9935 0.9974 0.39 0.9950 0.9977 0.27
1000 37.63 0.6957 0.6961 0.06 0.9066 0.9080 0.15 0.9763 0.9793 0.31 0.9934 0.9974 0.40 0.9953 0.9967 0.14
2000 82.07 0.6510 0.6520 0.15 0.8903 0.8932 0.33 0.9726 0.9763 0.38 0.9928 0.9968 0.40 0.9953 0.9959 0.06
5000 226.9 0.5993 0.5999 0.10 0.8688 0.8727 0.45 0.9673 0.9704 0.32 0.9918 0.9897 0.21 0.9952 0.9972 0.20
10 000 485.9 0.5650 0.5658 0.14 0.8529 0.8550 0.25 0.9631 0.9635 0.04 0.9909 0.9939 0.30 0.9948 0.9988 0.40
20 000 1036 0.5341 0.5352 0.21 0.8374 0.8372 0.02 0.9588 0.9629 0.43 0.9899 0.9878 0.21 0.9945 0.9995 0.50

The percentage absolute errors are shown in italics.

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1306 V. Di Marcello et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 1301–1310
Fig. 3. Effect of different PrT correlations on the evaluation of the Nusselt number.
Computed values are compared with experimental data of Skupinski et al. (1965)
(NaK with Pr= 0.0153) for uniformly heated tubes.
Fig. 4. Nusselt number with constant wall temperature. Present work results are
compared with: (a) Sleicher et al. (1973) experiments (NaK with Pr= 0.024) in fully
developed flow; (b) Awad (1965) (Na with Pr= 0.0093) and Abbrecht and Churchill
(1960) (air with Pr= 0.72) measurements in developing thermal region.
4.1. Fluids with small Prandtl number (10  2 oPr o1)
The critical parameter affecting the Nusselt number predic-
tions in low Pr fluids is the turbulent Prandtl number. An overview
of its effect is given in Fig. 3, where results achieved by means of
different PrT correlations (Dwyer, 1966; Notter and Sleicher, 1972;
Reynolds, 1975; Jischa and Rieke, 1979; Kays, 1994; Weigand et al.,
1997; Cheng and Tak, 2006) are compared to experimental data
from Skupinski et al. (1965), which refer to NaK (Pr =0.0153) in
uniformly heated tubes.
As emerges from Fig. 3, the effect of PrT on the values of Nu
becomes more significant as Reynolds increases. A factor of 1.5
can be found in the Nusselt number evaluations when Re is about
106. This discrepancy points out that Nu predictions are
significantly affected by PrT and so improved measurements are
required for a better assessment of such parameter.
For completeness, the comparison with experimental data in
the case of uniform wall temperature (Abbrecht and Churchill,
1960; Awad, 1965; Sleicher et al., 1973) and in the developing
thermal region with uniform wall heat flux (Awad, 1965) is shown
in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively, with reference to the correlation of
Kays—see Eq. (30).
It can be concluded that good agreement exists between
present calculations and the set of measured data shown in this
subsection, both in the fully developed flow and in the developing
thermal region.
4.2. Fluids with large Prandtl number (1 oPro104)
High molecular Prandtl number fluids are very insensitive to
the choice of PrT as demonstrated by Churchill (2002) in his
review. Fig. 6 gives a wide comparison of Nusselt predictions with
experimental data (Monin and Yaglom, 1971). As a result, the
agreement of the present model with measured data is very
satisfactory for the large range of considered Prandtl numbers
(1oPro104).
As concerns fluoride molten salts without internal heat
generation (Ambrosek et al., 2009), present predictions follow
the experimental trend of Nu with Re very well (Fig. 7). The
predictions are also compared with the Dittus–Boelter correlation,
which is usually adopted for molten salts (Mandin et al., 2005;
Yamamoto et al., 2005) although a non-negligible difference can
be noticed. However, the Dittus–Boelter predictions agree with
Fig. 5. Entry region Nusselt number for uniform wall heat flux. Experimental data
of Na (Pr = 0.0093) and NaK (Pr= 0.0296) are taken from Awad (1965).
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V. Di Marcello et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 1301–1310
Fig. 6. Large Prandtl comparison of present calculations with experimental data of
Monin and Yaglom (1971).
Fig. 7. The experimental data of the ternary fluoride salt FLiNaK (with
4.9 rPr r 17.1) reviewed by Ambrosek et al. (2009) are compared with present
calculations and the Dittus–Boelter correlation.
measured data within 715% over the considered range of
Reynolds number.
4.3. Fluids with internal heat generation
Few studies can be found in literature regarding the heat
transfer of fluids with internal heat generation both of experi-
mental and theoretical kind (Poppendiek, 1954; Sparrow and
Siegel, 1958; Siegel and Sparrow, 1959; Kinney and Sparrow,
1966). In this subsection the predictions of the generalized
approach of this work are compared with the accurate measure-
ments of Kinney and Sparrow (1966), performed with an aqueous
solution of sodium chloride salt in an insulated tube. Fig. 8 shows
that present calculations are in good agreement with measured
wall-to-bulk temperature differences, whose scatter was no more
than 77% (except for a few isolated points) over the considered
Reynolds number range. The computed values with Pr= 3.9 fall
within the uncertainty of the measured data (Kinney and Sparrow,
1966). Such a result can be regarded as very good when turbulent
heat transfer data are under consideration and the experimental
1307
Fig. 8. Experimental (Kinney and Sparrow, 1966) and computed wall-to-bulk
temperature results for uniform internal heat generation in an insulated tube
(NaCl aqueous solution).
difficulties to be faced during the measurement campaigns are
considered.
4.3.1. Correlation of the computed values
The computation of Nusselt values are impractical for
engineering applications even with modern computational re-
sources. Hence, interpolative and correlative expressions are
appropriate as a supplement of the computational results.
In the present subsection, fluids with simultaneous uniform
internal heat generation and uniform wall heat flux are con-
sidered, since the effect of the heat source cannot be neglected
when the heat transfer coefficient needs to be evaluated (e.g., in
the thermal–hydraulic analysis of the MSR core). To this purpose,
Nusselt number calculations in fully developed flow have been
correlated by means of a simple equation so that the effect of
internal heat generation can be easily taken into account. A brief
description of the correlating procedure is described here.
A parametric analysis has been performed by varying the heat
source term, Q, in the established model. The dependence of the
Nusselt number with the ratio of Q over the wall heat flux, jW, in
fully developed flow conditions (the Nusselt number in the
entrance region can be calculated by means of simple correla-
tions—e.g., Chen and Chiou, 1981; Kays et al., 2004) can be
described as follows:
 
Qr0 1
Nu=Nu0 ¼ 1 þC ð31Þ
jW
where Nu0 is the Nusselt number without heat generation and C is
a coefficient that in general depends on both Reynolds and Prandtl
numbers. Now, it is probably not possible to find one simple
expression for C that correlates Nusselt calculations accurately in
the Prandtl number range of interest for molten salts (1 oPro20).
However, fitting the coefficient C for several values of Reynolds
and Prandtl numbers, the computed results can be correlated,
but introducing a small sacrifice in simplicity; the equation
proposed is:
8 1
>
> 1 þðA1 PrA2 þ ða1 Pra2 ÞRea1 Pr 2 Þ Qr0
> a
>
< 0:7 rPr r 5
Nu jW
¼  1
Nu0 > > b1 Prb2 Qr0
> B2
5 oPr r 100
: 1 þðB1 Pr þ ðb1 Pr þ b2 ÞRe
> Þ
jW
ð32Þ
where the coefficients are defined in Table 2.
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1308 V. Di Marcello et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 1301–1310

Table 2 In particular, from the results achieved in the present

Coefficients of Eq. (32).
A1 0.005749 B1 0.008716
A2  0.4394 B2  0.66621
a1 9.7853 b1  0.02444
a2 0.175834 b2 13.5104
a1  0.6621 b1  0.71571
a2 0.068721 b2 0.0287
Fig. 9. Comparison between computed values of Nu/Nu0 with those given by the
correlation proposed in Eq. (32) for various Reynolds and Prandtl numbers.
Eq. (32) correlates the calculations within 3.5% for
0.7 rPrr100, 3  103 oReo2  105, and for fully developed flow
in a smooth pipe with uniform wall heat flux and uniform internal
heat source (Fig. 9).
In summary, the general analytic approach established in the
present work, and the numerical solution obtained by means of
the more recent and accurate formulation of the turbulence
proposed by Churchill (1997), are appropriate and suitable as
demonstrated by several comparisons with measured data in
different flow conditions. It is worth noting that accurate
measurements for fluids with internal heat generation, in
particular with reference to the molten salt mixtures of interest
for nuclear reactors and to their typical working conditions, are
required for a better assessment of present calculations and of the
proposed correlation.
5. Conclusions
The present study investigated the heat transfer characteristics
in turbulent pipe flow, which is hydrodynamically developed but
thermally developing, by means of a classical but unified analytic
approach. This technique is shown to be useful to analyse fluids
with internal heat generation, like the molten salts foreseen in the
framework of Generation IV nuclear reactors. The model incorpo-
rates the recent formulation of turbulent flow and convection of
Churchill (1997) and, after its accuracy assessment and validation,
has been applied: (i) to study the heat exchange of fluids in a wide
range of Prandtl number with different boundary conditions, by
comparing computations with experimental data and (ii) to
propose a Nusselt number correlation for fluids with simulta-
neous uniform internal heat generation and uniform wall heat
flux, which are the conditions of interest for molten salts reactors.
investigation, the following main conclusions can be drawn:
 The assessment of the adopted approach (Section 3), per-
formed by comparing present calculations with the essentially
exact solution of Yu et al. (2001), has shown that unavoidable
inaccuracies introduced by the presented mathematical for-
mulation and method of solution are of minor importance,
because they lead to a maximum error of 0.5% in the calculated
Nusselt numbers.
 The extensive comparison with experimental data has shown a
satisfactory agreement of present calculations. Nevertheless,
measured data are often characterized by a large scatter of
about 10–20%, due to measurement difficulties precluding a
very accurate assessment of the predictions. As concerns small
Prandtl number fluids, the turbulent Prandtl number remains a
critical piece of information leading to non-negligible dis-
crepancies in predicting the Nusselt number, as shown by the
investigation of its effect (Fig. 3). However, such discrepancies
are not encountered while analysing large Prandtl number
fluids, and in particular molten salts (without internal heat
generation), whose Nusselt number can be predicted in a
suitable way by means of the Dittus–Boelter correlation. In
short, the higher uncertainties are related to small Prandtl
number fluids, whereas more accurate predictions are achiev-
able when molten salts are under consideration.
 As concerns fluids with internal heat generation, the level of
agreement between computations and experiments is entirely
comparable to that generally found for non-internally heated
fluids. This result suggests that the turbulent shear stress
concept described by means of Eq. (28) is applicable and
extendible to the case of fluids with internal heat generation.
As these fluids are extremely important for the nuclear field in
the frame of the current development of the molten salt
reactor of Generation IV, the correlating equation proposed is
thought to be useful since it provides a relatively simple
description of the involved phenomena, even if it has to be
assessed on experimental grounds.
Notation
aþ dimensionless pipe radius ( =r0 (tW r)1/2/m)
Bi Biot number
C coefficient of Eq. (31), dimensionless
Ci, Ci constants defined by Eqs. (14) and (19), respectively
CP specific heat of fluid, J kg  1 K  1
D pipe diameter, m
f(R), functions defined by Eqs. (4i) and (4j), respectively
g(R)
hW overall heat transfer coefficient at wall, W m  2 K  1
jW(z) wall heat flux, W m  2
JW(Z) dimensionless heat flux at wall
k thermal conductivity, W m  1 K  1
‘ axial length of pipe, m
L dimensionless axial length of pipe ( =2‘/(Re Pr r0))
Nu Nusselt number
Nu0 Nusselt number without internal heat generation
NuN Nusselt number in fully developed flow
P(R,Z) =R  S(R,Z)
Pe Peclet number ( = Re  Pr)
Pj(R) jth term of the polynomial expansion of P(R,Z)
Pr molecular Prandtl number ( = CPm/k)
PrT turbulent Prandtl number
q order of the polynomial expansion of P(R,Z) and f(Z)
Q(r,z) internal heat source within the fluid, W m  3
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