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Abstract
The present study concerns the numerical analysis of hydrodynamic and thermal
characteristics of the flow of an incompressible Herschel-Bulkley fluid of constant
physical and rheological properties. The flow takes place within a horizontal pipe of
circular cross section. The pipe is maintained at uniform parietal temperature and is the
seat of forced convection heat transfer. Because of the viscous character of this type of
fluid, viscous dissipation is taken into account.
1. Introduction
Viscoplastic fluids are encountered in many industrial applications. They are
characterized by a yield stress from which the fluid moves. The general model which
describes this class of non Newtonian fluids is the Herschel-Bulkley model. Recently,
Nouar (2005) studied free and forced convection heat transfer of this fluid flow in a
horizontal circular pipe subjected to a constant parietal heat flux. They analyzed the
effect of thermodependency of the fluid consistency and its density on the secondary
flows and gave correlations for the Nusselt number and the wall shear stress. It is to be
noticed that viscous dissipation’s effect of this category of fluids has not yet been
deeply investigated, especially for negative values of the Brinkman number.
The present work deals with a numerical study of laminar forced convection of a
Herschel-Bulkley fluid, for which the power law index is taken equal to 1 and 1.5. This
fluid is incompressible and of constant physical and rheological properties. We consider
in this study a great value of the Prandtl number in order to get close to industrial
applications concerning this category of fluids. The flow takes place within a horizontal
circular pipe, subjected to a constant parietal temperature. Viscous dissipation will be
considered, by taking both cases of wall heating and wall cooling.
2. Governing Equations
Let’s consider the laminar steady flow of an incompressible Herschel-Bulkley fluid in a
circular pipe of length L and radius rw maintained at constant wall temperature Tw. The
dimensionless governing equations, i.e. continuity, momentum and energy equations are
respectively given by:
1 ∂ (RV ) ∂U
+ =0 (Eqn. nr. 1)
R ∂R ∂X
N. Labsi et al.
1 ∂ (R V V ) ∂ (U V ) ∂P* 1 ⎡1 ∂ ⎛ ∂V ⎞ ∂ ⎛ ∂V ⎞ ⎤
+ =− + ⎜η R ⎟+ ⎜η ⎟
R ∂R ∂X ∂R Re ⎢⎣ R ∂R ⎜⎝ eff ∂R ⎟⎠ ∂X ⎜⎝ eff ∂X ⎟⎠ ⎥⎦
(Eqn. nr. 2)
∂ ⎛V ⎞ ⎤
+
1
Re
⎡V ∂
( ) V ∂ ∂U
( )∂
( )
⎢ R ∂R ηeff − ηeff 2 + ∂X ηeff ∂R + R ∂R ηeff ∂R ⎜ R ⎟ ⎥
⎣ R ⎝ ⎠⎦
1 ∂ (R V U ) ∂ (U U ) ∂P ∗ 1 ⎡1 ∂ ⎛ ∂U ⎞
+ =− + ⎢ ⎜ ηeff R ⎟
R ∂R ∂X ∂X Re ⎣ R ∂R ⎝ ∂R ⎠
(Eqn. nr. 3)
+
∂ ⎛
⎜ ηeff
∂X ⎝
∂U ⎞⎤ 1 ⎡ ∂
⎟⎥ + ⎢
∂X ⎠⎦ Re ⎣ ∂R
ηeff
∂V
∂X
( )+
∂
∂X
ηeff
∂U ⎤
∂X ⎥⎦
( )
1 ∂(R V φ) ∂(Uφ) 1 ⎡ 1 ∂ ⎛ ∂φ ⎞ ∂ 2φ ⎤
+ = ⎢ ⎜R ⎟+ 2⎥
R ∂R ∂X Pr Re ⎣⎢ R ∂R ⎝ ∂R ⎠ ∂X ⎦⎥
⎡ ⎧ 2 2 2⎫ 2⎤
(Eqn. nr. 4)
Br ⎪⎛ ∂V ⎞ ⎛ ∂U ⎞ ⎛V ⎞ ⎪ ⎛ ∂U ∂V ⎞ ⎥
+ ηeff ⎢2 ⎨⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎬ + ⎜⎜ + ⎟⎟
Pr Re ⎢ ⎝ ∂R ⎠ ⎝ ∂X ⎥
⎪ ⎠ ⎝R⎠ ⎪⎭ ⎝ ∂R ∂X ⎠ ⎥
⎣⎢ ⎩ ⎦
The general model of Herschel-Bulkley fluid is given by the following rheological law:
⎧⎪τ = K γ& n + τ 0 τ ≥ τ0
⎨ (Eqn. nr. 5)
⎪⎩γ& = 0 τ < τ0
In order to avoid numerical instabilities in the low shear rate region, many authors (Min
et al., 1997; Mitsoulis, 2004; Mitsoulis et al., 2008) recommend to use the following
constitutive law proposed by Papanastasiou, for which they advised to take m = 1000 s:
HB
ηeff = γ& n − 1 + [ 1 − exp (− M γ&)] (Eqn. nr. 6)
γ&
As boundary conditions, we suppose a uniform axial velocity and temperature at the
inlet (U = φ = 1, V = 0). No-slip conditions are applied at the wall along the pipe where
a constant parietal temperature is assumed (U = V = φ = 0). Finally, at the symmetry
plan (θ = 0), we consider: (∂φ/∂θ) = (∂U/∂θ) = (∂V/∂θ) = 0.
The governing equations quoted previously, are solved numerically using the finite
volume method proposed by Patankar (1980). They are discretized and put in the form
of an algebraic equation which is solved using a computing code based on the
SIMPLER algorithm, by considering a 150x50 non uniform mesh.
60
Present study
Min et al. (1997)
50
40
Br = 1
O
Nux
30
20
Br = 0
10 O
0
0,1 1 10
X
100 100
Nux
Nux
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20 3.60
3.80
0 0
-20 -20
0,01 0,1 1 10 100 0,01 0,1 1 10 100
X X
(a) (b)
Fig. 2: Axial evolution of the Nusselt number for various values of the Reynolds
number. HB = 2, Pr = 50, Br = 0. (a) n = 1 (b) n = 1.5
2,4 2,4
HB = 10 HB = 10
HB = 5 HB = 5
2,0 HB = 0 2,0 HB = 0
1,6 1,6
U
1,2 1,2
U
0,8 0,8
0,4 0,4
0,0 0,0
0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5
R R
(a) (b)
Fig. 3: Fully developed velocity profiles for various values of the Herschel-Bulkley
number. Re = 20, Pr = 50, Br = 0. (a) n = 1 (b) n = 1.5
The effect of Herschel-Bulkley number variation on heat transfer (the Nusselt number)
is shown in Figs 4(a) and 4(b), for the case where viscous dissipation is neglected. We
can see, for n = 1 and n = 1.5, that the increase of the Herschel-Bulkley number
improves heat transfer in the fully developed region. However, this effect is not very
significant at the inlet. In addition, this effect is less noticeable for n = 1.5.
HB = 10 HB = 10
HB = 5 HB = 5
HB = 0 HB = 0
Nux
Nux
10 10
Fig. 4: Axial evolution of the Nusselt number for different values of the Herschel-
Bulkley number. Re = 20, Pr = 50, Br = 0. (a) n = 1 (b) n = 1.5
100
80
60 Br = +10
Br = +5
40 Br = +2
10.66 Br = +0.1
20 Br = 0
Nux
Br = -0.1
0 3.80 Br = -2
-20 Br = -5
Br = -10
-40
-60
-80
0,1 1 10 100 1000
X
Fig. 5. Axial evolution of the Nusselt number for different values of the Brinkman
number. Re = 20, HB = 2, Pr = 50. n = 1
80
60
Br = +10
40 Br = +5
Br = +2
20 9.40 Br = +0.1
Nux
Br = 0
0
3.55 Br = -0.1
-20 Br = -2
Br = -5
-40 Br = -10
-60
-80
0,1 1 10 100 1000
X
Fig. 6. Axial evolution of the Nusselt number for different values of the Brinkman
number. Re = 20, HB = 2, Pr = 50. n = 1.5
4. Conclusion
A numerical study based on finite volume method was carried out. It consisted on the
laminar forced convection flow of an incompressible Herschel-Bulkley fluid in a
circular pipe maintained at uniform wall temperature, by taking viscous dissipation into
account. The results, for both n = 1 and n = 1.5, show that heat transfer characteristics
are strongly affected by the variation of Reynolds and Herschel-Bulkley numbers.
N. Labsi et al.
Actually, the Nusselt number is shown to be higher when both Reynolds and Herschel-
Bulkley numbers increase. The distinction is that this effect is noted at the inlet of the
pipe for the Reynolds number and downstream from the inlet for the Herschel-Bulkley
number’s effect. In addition, the extent of the core region increases when the Herschel-
Bulkley number increases. The same results were obtained for the limit case of a
Bingham fluid (Labsi et al. 2007). Finally and as expected, taking into account viscous
dissipation improves significantly heat transfer since the asymptotic value of the Nusselt
number is notably greater than the one corresponding to the case where viscous
dissipation is neglected. Similar behaviours were observed in a previous study
undertaken for the case of a Bingham fluid (Boutra et al., 2008).
References
A. Boutra, N. Labsi, Y.K. Benkahla, 2008, Etude thermique de l’écoulement en convection forcée
d’un fluide viscoplastique dans une conduite maintenue à température uniforme : influence de
la dissipation visqueuse, Actes du congrès de la SFT (Toulouse-France, june 3-6, 2008), 103-
108.
N. Labsi, A. Boutra, Y.K. Benkahla, 2007, Thermal study of the laminar flow of a Bingham
plastic in a horizontal circular pipe maintained at uniform temperature, Chemical Engineering
Transactions AIDIC, 8th International Conference on Chemical and Process Engineering
(ICheaP-8, June 24-27, 2007, Ischia Italy, vol. 11.
E. Mitsoulis, 2004, On creeping drag flow of a viscoplastic fluid past a circular cylinder: wall
effects, Chem. Eng. Sci., 59, 789-800.
E. Mitsoulis, S. Galazoulas, 2008, Simulation of viscoplastic flow past cylinders in tubes, J. Non-
Newtonian Fluid Mech., in press doi:10.1016/j.jnnfm.2008.10.006.
T. Min, H.G. Choi, J.Y. Yoo, H. Choi, 1997, Laminar convective heat transfer of a Bingham
plastic in a circular pipe-II. Numerical approach-hydrodynamically developing flow and
simultaneously developing flow, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 40, 3689-3701.
C. Nouar, 2005, Thermal convection for a thermo-dependent yield stress fluid in an axisymmetric
horizontal duct, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, 48, 5520-5535.
S.V. Patankar, 1980, Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow, McGraw. New York.
Nomenclature
Br Brinkman number, = k0 V01+n K(T0 −Tw) Dn−1 Re Reynolds number, = ρ V02 − n D n K
Cp specific heat transfer, J kg-1 K-1 T temperature, K
D pipe diameter, m T0 entrance temperature, K
HB Herschel-Bulkley number, = τ0 D n μ0V0n Tw wall temperature, K
k heat transfer conductivity, W m-2 K-1 U reduced axial velocity, = Vx/V0
K consistency index, kg m-1 s-1 V reduced radial velocity, = Vr/V0
L pipe length, m V0 mean velocity, m/s
m exponential growth parameter, s x axial coordinate, m
M reduced exponential growth parameter, X reduced axial coordinate, = x/D
= m V0 D Greek symbols
γ& strain rate, s-1
n power law index of the fluid
Nu Nusselt number, = ( −1 / φm )( ∂φ / ∂R ) η effective viscosity, kg m-1 s-1
R = 0 .5
ηeff reduced effective viscosité, = η/K
p* pressure, Pa
ρ fluid density, kg m-3
P* reduced pressure, = p*/ ρ V02
τ shear stress, Pa
Pr Prandtl number, = K C p V0n −1 k D n −1 τ0 yield stress, Pa
r radial coordinate, m φ reduced temperature, = (T - Tw)/(T0 - Tw)
rw pipe radius, m φm reduced bulk temperature,
R reduced radial coordinate, = r/D = (Tm-Tw)/(T0 -Tw)