Turbulent Heat Transfer Downstream of an Unsymmetric Blockage in a Tube

Pipe flow experiments were performed to study the heat transfer in the separation, reattachment, and redevelopment regions downstream of a wall-attached blockage in the form of a segmental orifice plate. Water was the working fluid, and the Reynolds number encompassed the range from about 10,000–60,000. The extent of the flow blockage was varied from one-fourth to three-fourths of the tube cross section. Heat transfer coefficients were determined both around the circumference of the uniformly heated tube and along its length. The axial distributions of the circumferential average Nusselt numbers show an initial increase, then attain a maximum, and subsequently decrease toward the fully developed regime. These Nusselt numbers are much higher than those for a conventional thermal entrance region. The unsymmetric blockage induces variations of the Nusselt number around the circumference of the tube. Axial distributions of the Nusselt number at various fixed angular positions reveal the presence of two types of maxima. One of these is associated with the reattachment of the flow and the other occurs due to the impingement of flow deflected by the blockage onto the tube wall. The circumferential variations decay with increasing downstream distance, but the rate of decay for the case of the smallest blockage is remarkably slow. Although most of the tests were performed for Pr = 4, supplementary experiments for Pr = 8 showed that the results are valid for a range of Prandtl numbers.