Turbulent Forced Convection

Convective heat transfer occurs when there is an energy exchange between a flowing fluid and a solid body. This energy exchange or heat transfer occurs at the surface of the solid which is in contact with the fluid and is primarily governed by the temperature difference between the solid and fluid. The term "forced convection" is used when the motion of the fluid is driven by external means, such as a pump or a suction device. When the fluid moves because of buoyancy, the convective phenomenon is typically referred to as "natural convection"; examples include hot air balloons, blood circulation, etc. In most industrial applications, forced convection is used for effective and efficient heat transfer in applications like steam turbines, heat exchangers, etc. When the forced fluid flow is turbulent, it increases the mixing rates and eventually leads to an increased heat transfer compared to a laminar fluid flow. These heat transfer rates can be calculated with the help of engineering simulations. In this course, we consider a turbulent flow through a pipe with a heated section at the middle of the pipe.

This SimCafe course was developed by Dr. Rajesh Bhaskaran, Swanson Director of Engineering Simulation at Cornell University, and Yong Sheng Khoo in partnership with Ansys. It serves as an e-learning resource to integrate industry-standard simulation tools into courses and provides a resource for supplementary learning outside the classroom. In this course, we will learn to model the turbulent forced convective heat transfer through a pipe by following the end-to-end workflow in Ansys Workbench.

For more ways to learn, check out the Cornell edX course, A Hands-on Introduction to Engineering Simulations at ansys.com/cornell.

Cornell University also offers a Fluid Dynamics Simulations Using Ansys online certificate authored by Dr. Rajesh Bhaskaran. Learn more here: https://ecornell.cornell.edu/fluiddynamics

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