Convection: External Flow

Rahul Rao

Semester 1 2015, Clayton

Objectives

I Learn to distinguish between laminar, mixed and turbulent

flow over a flat plate
I Understand the role of the Nusselt number in convective heat
transfer
I Learn how to use convective heat transfer correlations for
forced external flow
Important variables from last lecture

x characteristic length scale, depends on geometry

Re = ρUx/µ, depends on U, x and fluid properties
Pr = cp µ/k, depends only on fluid properties
Nu = Nu(x,Re,Pr), depends on x, Re and Pr
h = Nu × k/x, depends on Nu, fluid properties and x
A cheat sheet for the solutions to these problems

1. Determine flow geometry (flat plate, cylinder, sphere or tube

banks) and boundary conditions (constant surface
temperature or constant heat flux)
2. Evaluate fluid properties at the correct temperature (generally
at Tf = Ts +T
2
∞
)
3. Calculate Reynolds number and determine if the flow is
laminar or turbulent
4. Determine if the local (h(x)) or average (h) convective heat
transfer coefficient is required
5. Use the appropriate convection correlation based on points 1,
2, 3 and 4 to get Nu
6. Use Nu to get h and then q” or Q̇
The flat plate with a uniform surface temperature

I Reynolds number at any

distance x
ρUx
Rex =
µ

I Critical Reynolds number indicates laminar or turbulent flow.

Rex,c = 5 × 105 is typical for flow over a flat plate
I If Re(x) ≤ Rex,c then flow is laminar at point x - Case 1
I If Re(x) > Rex,c then flow is turbulent at point x - Case 2
I Reynolds number changes linearly with x - this can go from
laminar to turbulent flow at some point on the plate. Since
the plate now has both laminar and turbulent flow, this is a
mixed flow condition - Case 3
Case 1: Laminar Flow - correlations for local dimensionless
numbers
I A steady two-dimensional laminar boundary layer that forms
on a semi-infinite plate in parallel flow is called a Blasius
boundary layer
I This is a well-studied and understood situation and exact
solutions for many variables are known

5x
δ=√ δt = δPr −1/3
Rex
δ
τs,x = Pr 1/3
Cf ,x = = 0.664Rex −1/2 δt
ρU 2 /2
hx x δ
Nux = = 0.332Rex 1/2 Pr 1/3 = Sc 1/3
k δc
hm,x x
Shx = = 0.332Rex 1/2 Sc 1/3
DAB
Case 1: Laminar Flow - correlations for average
dimensionless numbers

I By integrating the equations on the previous page from 0 to x

and dividing by x, average values for these dimensionless
numbers can be obtained
I Surface average friction coefficient
Cf ,x = 1.328Rex −1/2 for 103 ≤ Rex ≤ 5 × 105
I Average Nusselt number
Nux = hkx x = 0.664Rex 1/2 Pr 1/3 for Pr ≥ 0.6
Case 2: Turbulent Flow

I This is a flow much less understood than the Blasius flow

I Analytical solutions are not known at this point in time - we
must rely on empirical correlations
δ = 0.37xRex −1/5 Cf ,x = 0.0592Rex −1/5
I δ varies as x 4/5 and Cf ,x varies as x −1/5
I Compare this to laminar flow where δ varies as x 1/2 - the
turbulent boundary layer grows more rapidly
I In laminar flow, Cf ,x varies as x −1/2 - the turbulent friction
coefficient decays more slowly
I Nux = 0.0296Rex 4/5 Pr 1/3 for 0.6 < Pr < 60
Case 3: Mixed Boundary Layer
I If the flow changes from laminar to turbulent somewhere in
the region of interest, the heat transfer is influenced by both
laminar and turbulent boundary layers
I In this case, we assume a sharp transition at x = xc where
Rex,c = ρUxc /µ = 5 × 105
Case 3: Mixed Boundary Layer

I Integrate the local heat transfer coefficients over both laminar

and turbulent regions and add the two numbers together to
obtain the average heat transfer coefficient
Z xc Z L 
1
hL = hlam dx + hturb dx
L 0 xc

I We can substitute hlam = 0.332Rex 1/2 Pr 1/3 × k/x and

hturb = 0.0296Rex 4/5 Pr 1/3 × k/x and then integrate
I The result is NuL = 0.037(ReL 4/5 − A)Pr 1/3 where A is a
constant which depends on the critical Reynolds number
A = 0.037Rex,c 4/5 − 0.664Rex,c 1/2
I Using a typical Rex,c of 5 × 105 , A = 871
Then NuL = 0.037(ReL 4/5 − 871)Pr 1/3
What about the constant heat flux case?

I The equations are a little different to the constant surface

temperature case, but their application is identical
Laminar flow: Nux = 0.453Rex 1/2 Pr 1/3 for Pr ≥ 0.6
Turbulent flow: Nux = 0.0308Rex 4/5 Pr 1/3 for 0.6 ≤ Pr ≤ 60
I These can be integrated as done earlier to obtain average
Nusselt numbers over a given plate dimension
What about more complicated cases?

I Generally, boundary layer separation occurs when

non-streamlined shapes are subjected to cross-flow
I A separated boundary layer has massive influence on the heat
transfer occurring
I Recirculation regions decrease heat transfer to a large extent
I There are correlations for some special cases that have had
extensive study, eg. a cylinder in cross-flow, flow over tube
banks
I They are used in exactly the same way as the correlations
presented here