STUDIES ON FLOW RESISTANCE AND HEAT-TRANSFER OF REGENERATOR WIRE MESHES OF STIRLING ENGINE IN OSCILLATORY FLOW

This paper describes in detail experimental results on flow resistance and heat transfer of regenerator wire meshes of a Stirling engine in oscillatory flow. The results show that for Re > 300, the friction fac tor of wire mesh became lower than that in previous studies. It has be en clarified that the friction factor in a decelerating period becomes higher than that in an accelerating period under the condition that b oth Valensi number and maximum Reynolds number exceed certain values. A new experimental method for estimating Nusselt number of wire mesh i n oscillatory flow is proposed. This method employs a cylindrical prob e having two thermocouples attached on opposite sides of the cylinder facing the direction of oscillatory flow. It has been clarified that N usselt number of wire mesh becomes a function of Reynolds number and o pen area ratio. Also, experiments on spring mesh were carried out.