Numerical Study of Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Eccentric Horizontal Cylindrical Annuli : Heat Transfer Enhancement by Eccentricity

Abstract

A numerical analysis for natural convection heat transfer in eccentric cylindrical annuli was presented. This problem is one of the most basic problems for a shell and tube-type heat exchanger. Many studies on heat transfer in eccentric cylindrical annuli on the view of flow pattern have been done, however, only a few studies on the effect of eccentricity on heat transfer enhancement have been conducted. The numerical method presented in this paper utilized the boundary-fixing method which is applicable to the moving boundary problem. Calculations are made for isotherms, streamlines, dimensionless Nusselt number distribution around the cylinder, and dimensionless total heat transfer. The effects of eccentricity on heat transfer enhancement and convection mechanism in eccentric cylindrical annuli are presented.