Bifurcated Forced Convective Heat Transfer of Supercritical CO2 Flow in Plane Symmetric Sudden Expansion Duct

Abstract

This study presents a computational investigation of forced convection of supercritical CO2 flow in plane symmetric sudden expansion duct at an expansion ratio of 2 in flow asymmetric regime. Computations were conducted at various Reynolds numbers in flow asymmetric regime and low wall heat fluxes below 500 W/m2 to examine the Reynolds number and thermal effects on the flow and heat transfer of the bifurcated flow. General flow features and temperature distributions are presented. The transitional Reynolds numbers above, which a third recirculation region will appear at different wall heat flux are presented, and thus thermal effects on the flow stability are discussed. Reynolds number and thermal effects on distributions of wall skin friction, pressure coefficient, and Nusselt number are presented and discussed.