Heat transfer to power law fluids from a heated square cylinder

Abstract

Forced-convection heat transfer to power-law fluids from a heated square cylinder has been investigated numerically for the range of conditions 1 ≤Re≤45, 0.5≤n≤2.0 and 1≤Pr≤100 (the maximum Peclet number being 4,000). In this range of Reynolds number, the flow is known to be steady and two-dimensional. The variation of the local Nusselt number on the individual surfaces of the square cylinder and the representative isotherm plots, for both the constant-temperature and uniform-heat-flux boundary conditions prescribed on the surface of the square obstacle, are presented to elucidate the role of Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and power-law index on the heat transfer characteristics. Using the present numerical data, appropriate predictive correlations are obtained for estimating the value of the mean heat transfer coefficient in a new application.