ME664A

Fundamentals of Casting and Solidification

Dr. Arvind Kumar

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Lecture 6 - annex

Solidification Lab

which is the ratio of the inertial forces to the

viscous forces. It could also be considered the
Note that multiplying the Reynolds number by yields ratio of the total momentum transfer to the
molecular momentum transfer.

Note that whereas the Reynolds number and Grashof number are subscripted with a length scale variable
variable, the
Prandtl number contains no such length scale in its definition and is dependent only on the fluid and the fluid
state. As such, the Prandtl number is often found in property tables alongside other properties such
as viscosity and thermal conductivity.

Typical
yp values for are:
around 0.015 for mercury
around 0.7-0.8 for air and many other gas

For mercury, heat conduction is very effective compared to convection: thermal diffusivity is dominant. For engine
oil, convection is very effective in transferring energy from an area, compared to pure conduction: momentum
diff i it iis d
diffusivity dominant.
i t

In heat transfer problems, the Prandtl number controls the relative thickness of the momentum and
thermal boundary layers. When Pr is small, it means that the heat diffuses very quickly compared to the velocity
(momentum). This means that for liquid metals the thickness of the thermal boundary layer is much bigger than
the velocity boundary layer
layer.

The mass transfer analog of the Prandtl number is the Schmidt number (Sc)
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Dr. Arvind Kumar Liquid Metals Group IIT Kanpur
Schmidt number (Sc) is a dimensionless number defined as the ratio of momentum
diffusivity (viscosity) and mass diffusivity.

It physically relates the relative thickness of the hydrodynamic layer and mass-transfer boundary layer

Lewis
L i number b (Le)
(L ) iis a dimensionless
di i l number
b defined
d fi d as ththe ratio
ti off thermal
th l diff
diffusivity
i it to
t mass
diffusivity. It is used to characterize fluid flows where there is simultaneous heat and mass transfer by
convection.

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Dr. Arvind Kumar Liquid Metals Group IIT Kanpur

The Péclet number (Pe) is a class of dimensionless numbers relevant in the study of transport phenomena. It is
defined to be the ratio of the rate of advection of a physical quantity by the flow to the rate of diffusion of the same
quantity driven by an appropriate gradient. In the context of species or mass transfer, the Péclet number is the
product of the Reynolds number and the Schmidt number.
number In the context of the thermal fluids
fluids, the thermal Peclet
number is equivalent to the product of the Reynolds number and the Prandtl number.

For mass transfer

where L is the characteristic length,
length u the
local flow velocity, D the mass diffusion
coefficient, and α the thermal diffusivity
For heat transfer

A flow will often have different Péclet numbers

for heat and mass. This can lead to the
phenomenon of double diffusive convection

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Dr. Arvind Kumar Liquid Metals Group IIT Kanpur
The Grashof number (Gr) is a dimensionless number in fluid dynamics and heat transfer which
approximates the ratio of the buoyancy to viscous force acting on a fluid. It frequently arises in
the study of situations involving natural convection
convection.

In forced convection the Reynolds Number governs the fluid flow. But, in natural convection
the Grashof Number is the dimensionless parameter that governs the fluid flow.

In fluid mechanics,
mechanics the Rayleigh number (Ra) for a fluid is a dimensionless number associated
with buoyancy driven flow (also known as free convection or natural convection). When the
Rayleigh number is below the critical value for that fluid, heat transfer is primarily in the form
of conduction; when it exceeds the critical value, heat transfer is primarily in the form of convection.

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Dr. Arvind Kumar Liquid Metals Group IIT Kanpur

The Stefan number (Ste) is defined as the ratio of sensible heat to latent heat. It is
given by
g y the formula

Stemelting

Stefreezing

For certain families of non-metallic solids such as waxes, St is small; hence, the bulk of
heat stored or released from them is latent heat. For metals St is of the order 1-10 and so the
effect of sensible heat is at least as large as that of latent heat
heat.

For other materials such as silicates St may be very large; the sensible heat will then dominate
the heat transfer process. Of course St depends on the temperature drop ∆ T experienced by the
material during the heat transfer process.

In general, the value of St will determine the suitability of a particular method

for analyzing a given heat transfer process. For large St the process will essentially be one of
pure conduction.

For small St the conduction heat transfer process will be dominated by the phase change.

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Dr. Arvind Kumar Liquid Metals Group IIT Kanpur
 Recap
 Non –dimensional numbers used in solidification
transport phenomena and significance

Dr. Arvind Kumar Liquid Metals Group IIT Kanpur