Laminar Flow Over Heated Cylinder

Analysis Characteristics

• Steady-state
• 2D internal flow
• Laminar
• Incompressible
• Forced convection

Reference

Holman, J.P., Heat Transfer, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1981.

Problem Description

A circular cylinder with an infinitely long axis (thus approximated as 2D) is immersed in a laminar flow with a Reynolds number of 50 (based on the diameter of the cylinder). The cylinder wall has a fixed temperature 100 K higher than the fluid bulk temperature. This model is analyzed to verify the fluid flow and heat transfer modeling capabilities of Autodesk® CFD.

Accuracy is assessed by comparing two expressions for Nusselt number. One is an experimental correlation and the other is an analytical derivation. The experimental correlation is extracted from Holman (1981):

The subscript “e” indicates experimental. The analytical derivation is:

The subscript “a” indicates analytical.

• Q is the heat flux into the fluid (in watts)
• L and D are the length (unit length into the page) and diameter of the cylinder
• k is the conductivity of the fluid, h is the film coefficient
• Tcyl is the fixed temperature of the cylinder
• Tin is the bulk temperature of the incoming fluid.

Geometry and Boundary Conditions

Results

Using Re=50 (based on cylinder diameter), Q=17.08 watts, Pr=6.97, and the known geometry and boundary condition data, the following results are computed: