Heat and Momentum Transfer Analogies in Laminar Flow

Abstract

In this paper, we briefly present the heat/momentum transfer analogies of Reynolds and the followers for turbulent flow. Next, we discuss differences between turbulent and laminar flow and turn to the Lévêque analogy for laminar flow. This enables heat transfer coefficients (Nusselt numbers) to be derived, based on the flow friction results that include only viscous friction. Some examples of Lévêque analogy applications, such as flow through packed beds, wire gauzes, short-channel structures (short monoliths), and structured catalyst carriers (tube inserts), are given. The Lévêque analogy gave satisfactory accuracy when compared to experiments with flow friction derived on the theoretical basis.