Wh. Hsieh et Sf. Lu, Heat-transfer analysis and thermal dispersion in thermally-developing region of a sintered porous metal channel, INT J HEAT, 43(16), 2000, pp. 3001-3011
The thermal dispersion and heat-transfer processes in the thermally-develop
ing region of a sintered porous metal channel with asymmetric heating are a
nalyzed by a two-equation model. The two-equation model considers different
energy equations for the bronze and air due to the large difference in the
ir thermal conductivities. In order to account for the large heat-transfer
characteristics caused by the growth of thermal boundary layer in the therm
al entrance region, the thermal dispersion conductivity is modeled as the p
roduct of an entrance-effect function, the dispersive length and the Peclet
number. The empirical coefficients in the entrance-effect function are det
ermined by comparing the experimental data. From the calculated results it
is found a two-equation model underpredicts the Nusselt number if the therm
al-entrance effect function is not included in the model. A parametric stud
y is also conducted to investigate the effect of Peclet number and thermal
conductivity ratio on the calculated Nusselt number distribution. (C) 2000
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