Viscous Dissipation Effects on Combined Free and Forced Convection Through Vertical Circular Tubes

Abstract

The effect of viscous dissipation on the flow phenomena and heat transfer rate in a vertical circular duct is analyzed for combined free and forced convection. All fluid properties are considered constant, except variation of density in the buoyancy term. It is noted that effect of viscous dissipation is to reduce the temperature differences in the system which in turn counteract the buoyancy effects. Therefore the viscous dissipation reduces the flow velocity near the wall and increases it near the tube center. Viscous dissipation effects reduce the Nusselt numbers. The reduction in Nusselt numbers is about six percent at the high values of the buoyancy rate (Rayleigh number = 1000) and the dissipation effect Eckert number/Reynolds number = 0.0005 was used in the present study.