PULSATILE FLOW AROUND HEATED SEMI-CIRCULAR CYLINDER

Abstract

A numerical analysis was carried out to examine the effect of pulsating flows around a semi-circular heated cylinder placed in a horizontal confined empty channel. The heat transfer induced as an outcome of non-zero mean sinusoidally varying flow past a semi-circular cylinder was investigated. For this purpose, computations are carried out for the following range of parameters: wall confinement (or blockage ratio, β) = 25%; Prandtl number (Pr) = 7 (water as a working fluid); Reynolds number (Re) = 10-100; Strouhal number (St) = 0-2; and amplitude of oscillation (A) = 0-0.6. The flow is numerically investigated by solving the continuity, momentum and energy equations using the finite volume method–based solver Ansys Fluent. Results in terms of total drag coefficient and Nusselt number have been presented and discussed. The nature of flow for each considered case is reported. Also the flow (streamlines) and thermal (isothermal contours) patterns have been analyzed. The maximum augmentations of about 22% and 10% were obtained in drag coefficient and Nusselt number, respectively