Numerical Computations on Heat Transfer Characteristics in a Cavity Swept by Hydrate Slurry Transported with Visco-Elastic Fluid

A two dimensional numerical study has been performed to investigate on heat transfer of hydrate slurry transported by a visco-elastic fluid in a cavity. In order to investigate the optimum geometric parameter, the effects of the rib height and the cavity length were changed in three steps, respectively. From the results, it is found that hydrate particles dispersed with Newtonian fluid (water) flow over the cavity without penetration. On the other hand, hydrate particles dispersed with visco-elastic fluid are observed effectively to penetrate into the cavity and sweep the bottom of cavity by Barus effect. Though the local heat transfer coefficient decreases in the downstream region of the cavity due to the development of thermal boundary layer, the mean Nusselt number on the cavity bottom in this visco-elastic dispersion medium cases becomes higher than that for water cases in corresponding cavity length. It was also found that heat transfer characteristics were significantly affected by cavity length for both dispersion medium cases. It is concluded that the visco-elastic dispersion medium causes effective heat transfer improvement in a cavity and that there exists the optimum geometry for the heat transfer augmentation in a cavity by using Barus effect.