Abstract
Oscillatory flow heat transfer is an essential design factor for thermoacoustic refrigerator, especially in a stack of an acoustic refrigerator, regenerator in Stirling refrigerator and related heat exchangers. Aiming to have a design criterion for such oscillatory flow heat transfer system, experimental and analytical investigations were conducted using incompressible oscillating flow in tube. The mode of heat transfer was mainly classified into laminar and turbulent flow heat transfers. The boundary between laminar and turbulent flows was approximately given by Ohmi-Iguchi criterion. The space-cycle averaged heat transfer characteristics are well correlated using Nusselt number, Reynolds number, Strouhal number and Prandtl number for the respective heat transfer modes, similarly to forced convective heat transfer.
