ATAL (AICTE Sponsored) Online 5-Day FDP on "Advancements in

Computational Fluid Dynamics using Fluidyn” 7th June-11th June

HEAT TRANSFER
ANALYSIS WITH CFD

Dr. Sasmita Bal

[email protected]
CONTENTS

CFD Introduction

Historical Background

Fundamentals of CFD

Limitations of CFD

Example of heat transfer problems

Conclusions
CFD Introduction
➢ What is CFD?
Computational fluid dynamics or CFD is the analysis of systems involving fluid
flow, heat transfer and associated phenomenon such as chemical reactions by
means of computer-based simulation.
➢ Fluid flow is commonly studied in one of the three ways
- Experimental fluid dynamics.
- Theoretical fluid dynamics.
- Numerically: computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
Experiment drawbacks:
• Costly
• Not feasible in all cases
• Demands complex designs and advanced manufacturing techniques and
mechanisms
Mathematical approach:
• Solve mathematical model of the problem
• The model is a simplification of the real problem and does not include all aspects
of the problem
• The model may work in certain situations
Analytical:
• Limited to simple problems
Numerical Simulation:
• Approximate solution at discrete locations
• Objective is to study flows over a wide range of applications
➢ What you should learn in order to get into CFD analysis
- Fundamentals of fluid dynamics and thermal sciences

- Fundamentals of CFD

- How to use CFD software

- How to generate mesh

- How CFD is used in design

- How to analyze CFD results

- How to make design decisions based on CFD results

 HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
• 1768​-Leonhard Euler- FDM based Taylor series expansion​
• 1922​-Lewis Fry Richardson- stress analysis( First numerical weather prediction)​
• 1933​-A.Thom-Flow past a cylinder​
• 1940-John von Neumann- Stability analysis of numerical schemes
• 1950- Sergei K.Godunov- proposed solutions of conservation laws in case of discontinuities
(Shock Waves)
• 1956- Peter Lax Equivalence theorem(Consistency+ stability=convergence)
• 1960- Los Alamos Labs- K- ε​ modelling, Particle in cell, Vorticity-stream function methods
• 1963- Joseph Smagorinsky-1st large eddy simulation
• 1970-D.Brian spalding- SIMPLE Algorithm, K- ε modified
Mc Donald and Mc Cormack- FVM to solve Euler equations
• 1970-1980-Improvement of FEM for arbitrary geometry
• 1970- For fluid study FDM was developed.
• 1990- DNS method
• 20 thcentury-Closed form of numerical solutions, analytical geometries
 FUNDAMENTALS OF CFD
Pre-Processor Solver Post- Processor
• Generation of Physical • Numerical solution of • Presentation of results in
model governing equations terms of

• Grid generation ▪ Approximation of the • Vector plots

unknown variables by
• Selection of phenomena simple functions • Contour plots
to be modeled and
selecting governing ▪ Discretization of the • Particle tracking
equations approximations into the
governing equations • View manipulations
• Defination of fluid
properties ▪ Solution of algebric
equations
• Specification of initial
boundary conditions
DIMENSIONS USED IN CFD

• 2D
Useful for individual components
Typical for foil design like control fins
Cost: Cheap

3D
Most CFD simulations
Can add in data from 2D simulation
Cost: Normal
GRID GENERATION
• Grid or mesh is defined as smaller shapes formed after discretisation of
geometric domain
• Grid can be in 3- dimension and 2-dimension
• Accuracy of numerical solution depends on
✓ Proper grid clustering
✓ Smoothness of the grid
✓ Skewness of the grid ( determines how close to ideal a face or cell is)
✓ Aspect ratio (the ratio of the shortest length of the element to the
longest length of the element)
 CLASSIFICATION OF GRIDS IN COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS
• Structured curvilinear grid
1) Grid points are identified at the intersection of co-ordinate line.
2) There are fixed number of neighboring grids for Interior grid.
3) They can be arranged into an array

• Unstructured grid
1) Complex geometries it is logical to use large number of blocks and therefore it leads to
unstructured grids
2) 2-D unstructured mesh uses triangle elements while 3-D uses tetrahedral elements.
3) Mesh can be refined wherever needed
4) Unstructured grids reduces the time which is required for meshing and mapping
5) Grid generation is faster and easy.
GOVERNING EQUATIONS
➢ CFD is based on the fundamental governing equation of fluid dynamics- the
continuity, momentum and energy equations.
➢ These equations are mathematical statements of 3-D physical principles upon
which all the fluid dynamics is based :
Mass conservation : Mass cannot be created or destroyed
Newton's second law : The rate of change of momentum equals the applied
force
Energy is conserved: The rate of change of energy inside the fluid element= Net
flux of heat into the element+ Rate of working done on the element due to body
and surface forces
•Navier-Stokes equations (3D in Cartesian coordinates)
Continuity equation

Equation of state

Rayleigh Equation
 MODELING (FLOW CONDITIONS)
Based on the physics of the fluid's phenomena, CFD can be distinguished into
different categories using different criteria
• Viscous vs. inviscid (Re)
• External flow or internal flow (wall bounded or not)
• Turbulent vs. laminar (Re)
• Incompressible vs. compressible (Ma)
• Single- vs. multi-phase
• Thermal/density effects (Pr, g, Gr etc.)
• Free-surface flow (Fr) and surface tension (We)
• Chemical reactions and combustion
etc
SPECIFICATION OF INITIAL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
Initial conditions (ICS, steady/unsteady flows)

➢ICs should not affect final results and only affect convergence path, i.e. number of
iterations (steady) or time steps (unsteady) need to reach converged solutions

➢More reasonable guess can speed up the convergence

➢For complicated unsteady flow problems, CFD codes are usually run in the steady
mode for a few iterations for getting a better initial conditions
POST PROCESSING
The leading CFD package are now eqipped with versatile data visualization
tools and these include:
✓Domain geometry and grid display
✓Vector plots
✓Lines and shaded contour plots
✓2D and 3D surface plots
✓Particle tracking
✓View manipulation (translation, rotation, scaling etc.)
✓Colour postscript output
✓Animation
 LIMITATIONS
• The CFD solutions can only be as accurate as the physical models on which they are based.
• Solving equations on a computer invariably introduces numerical errors
➢ Round-off error: due to finite word size available on the computer round-off errors
will always exist (though they can be small in most cases).
➢ Truncation error: due to approximations in the numerical models. Truncation errors
will go to zero as the grid is refined. Mesh refinement is one way to deal with
truncation error.
• Boundary conditions
➢ As with physical models, the accuracy of the CFD solution is only as good as the
initial/boundary conditions provided to the numerical model.
 Temperature distribution analysis

HEAT TRANSFER Heat flux rate analysis – calculation of wall heat flux
rates or heat transfer coefficients
FROM THE Visualisation of heat transfer features for improved

NUMERICAL understanding of system flow phenomena

Identification of localised ‘hot spots’ or heat sinks in

SIMULATION checking against specified requirements

PERSPECTIVE Evaluating variation in temperature peaks for different

operating conditions/ failure modes

Assessing insulation or heat shield effectiveness and

optimising of material selections

To evaluate thermally induced stresses, expansion or

fatigue
 APPLICATION IN INDUSTRY
• CFD is a potential tool to solve heat transfer problems
across a wide range of industrial fields for instance:
✓processing plants
✓power generation
✓oil and gas
✓subsea equipment
✓aerospace
✓nuclear
✓appliances and automotive
• This analysis is performed on industrial equipment such
as: heaters, furnaces, boilers, burners, heat exchangers
and electronic enclosures.
Modes of Heat Transfer
Conduction, convection and radiation are the three mechanisms by which
thermal energy may be transferred from one point in space (and time) to
another.
• Conduction: Diffusion of heat due to temperature gradients. A measure of
the amount of conduction for a given gradient is the heat conductivity.
• Convection: When heat is carried away by moving fluid. The flow can either
be caused by external influences, forced convection; or by buoyancy forces,
natural convection. Convective heat transfer is tightly coupled to the fluid flow
solution.
• Radiation: Transfer of energy by electromagnetic waves between surfaces
with different temperatures, separated by a medium that is at least partially
transparent to the (infrared) radiation. Radiation is especially important at high
temperatures like during combustion processes but can also have a
measurable effect at room temperatures.
Overview of Dimensionless Numbers
Nusselt Number- It is a dimensionless ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer.

Prandtl Number- It is the ratio between momentum diffusivity and thermal diffusivity
and is defined as:

Typical values are Pr = 0.01 for liquid metals; Pr = 0.7 for most gases; Pr = 6 for water at
room temperature.
Grashof Number- Grashof number (Gr) is the ratio between buoyancy forces and
viscous forces.
➢ Rayleigh Number- Natural convection problems are characterized using the
Rayleigh number. The Rayleigh number governs natural convection
phenomena (Ra = Gr.Pr)

➢ Reynolds Number- The Reynolds Number (Re) is the ratio between inertial
and viscous forces and is defined as:

➢ Froude Number- In most industrial applications, free and forced convection

occur simultaneously. The relative magnitude of these effects can be
determined by using a modified Froude number, Fr.
EXAMPLE OF HEAT
TRANSFER PROBLEMS
 Spray Quenching heat transfer using CFD
• Spray quenching is a heat treatment process based on the quenching method, where the
metal part is spray-cooled with a quenchant. After heating, the part’s hot surface is sprayed
with a jet of gas carrying small droplets to be cooled to the desired temperature. The
quenchant used can be water or oil media.
• Compared to other quenching techniques, spray quenching has the advantages of
providing high heat transfer and achieving uniform heat removal. It is also a very flexible
method as it is possible to apply a wide amplitude of cooling rates by simply adapting the
water flow rates.
In spray quenching, the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) varies with:
• Spray angle
• Distance to the surface
• Relative angle between spray & surface
• Spray water flow rate etc.
 SPRAY IMPINGEMENT COOLING MECHANISM
MECHANISM
• Evaporation off surface of liquid film
• Forced convection by droplet
impingement
• Fixed nucleation sites on heated surface
• Secondary nucleation by spray droplets

Merits
• Isothermal cooling
• Lower associated flow rates
• Higher heat rejection temperature
• High heat flux removal rate
• High heat transfer coefficient
• Rapid cooling
EFFICIENCY OF
COOLING METHODS
COMPARISON
 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Spray cooling of hot steel plate
using water as coolant

➢ Impact of changing spray

impingement height on
cooling
➢ Effect of coolant flow rate on
cooling

Source- Chakraborty, S., Sarkar, I., Roshan, A., Pal, S. K., & Chakraborty, S.
(2019). Spray cooling of hot steel plate using aqueous solution of surfactant
and polymer. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, 10, 217-231.
OPERATING PARAMETERS

Spray height 4, 6, 7, 8 cm

Coolant Flow Rate 12,13,14,15,16 lpm

Coolant Temp 30°C

Coolant Pressure 1bar - 4 bar

SET UP -
➢ Pressure atomized water spray is used to extract heat from a hot plate which is
at 900 °C.
➢ The material of the heated plate used is AISI 304 SS
➢ Plate dimension – 100 mm × 100 mm × 6 mm
➢ Droplet size- 574 µm
➢ Full cone nozzle opening- 3.56 mm
 Thermophysical Property of The Plate Material (AISI 304 SS)

Source- Nalbant, Muammer & YILDIZ, Yakup. (2011). Effect of cryogenic cooling in milling process of AISI 304 stainless steel. Transactions of
Nonferrous Metals Society of China. 21. 72-79. 10.1016/S1003-6326(11)60680-8.

Coolant Property

Coolant Thermal Conductivity Sp. heat Capacity Density

3
(W/m . K) (J/kg . k) (kg/m )

Water (303k) 0.6 4182 998.2

Geometry creation and meshing
 • Plate dimension= 100mm x 100mm x 6mm
• Control Volume=125mm x 125mm x 80mm
• Number of elements= 115600
• Number of Nodes = 119091
• Flow = Incompressible/ Viscous/ Turbulent
• GRAVITY = BUOYANCY, Vector = (0, 0, -9.81)
MODELLING AND • Convection = On
SIMULATION DETAILS • Diffusion = On
• k-ε turbulence model
• Hexahedral mesh [They make tremendous difference
in the final problem size when directional flow features are
present. Hexahedral meshes also have an advantage in
that they yield more accurate flowfield solutions than
their tetrahedral counterparts for the same number of
edges.]
Boundary Conditions and other assumptions
• All surfaces except the impinging surface are considered as adiabatic.
• Inlet : velocity specified ( Calculated from mass flow rate)
• Outlet : Atm. Pressure Specified
• Heat transfer in all the direction
• Transient heat transfer
• Forced convection
• Effect of free convection and radiation is neglected
RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
Final Temperature along X Axis
Nusselt Number variation on the Surface
Thermal Performance of
Microchannels With
Different Undulations
Microchannels
Compactness of electronic equipment:
➢ Major challenge: Removal of high heat flux from a small space.
➢ Objectives: Overall thermal management and increased durability without reducing
effectiveness.
➢ Suitable cooling approach:
Microchannel cooling: It increases the surface area to volume ratio and decreases
overall thermal resistance.
Microchannel applications:
➢ Defined by its hydraulic diameter less than equal to1 mm and has a wide range of
application not only in microelectronics but also extensively used in aviation industry,
defence, automobiles and gas turbines.
➢ Difficulty:
➢ Fabrication process: present fabrication by laser method make it more costly and high price
limits its application. The advent of micro-mechanical cutting has emerged as a key
technology in microchannel fabrication because of its ease of machining and low cost.
➢ Availability: readily not available
➢ Microchannel heat sinks represent the most compact and efficient method of
transferring heat from a power source to a fluid.
In most fluid-cooled systems, the dominant thermal resistance is in the fluid.
High heat transfer coefficient (up to 500,000 W/m2)
High surface to volume ratio (A/V = 2*104 …4*105 m2/m3)
High pressure drop (10…300 MPa/m)
Limited microchannel length (1 to 60 mm)

➢ Microchannels application can be broadly divided into three main categories:

Biological applications
Chemical applications
Electronics and mechanical applications
50 mm long (L), 11mm
breadth (B) and 3 mm
high (H) heat sink block

height (h) And the

breadth (b) of the
interfaces are 1mm
Thermophysical Properties of Aluminium (used as Heat sink material)

Density (ρs ) (kg/m3) Thermal Conductivity(Ks) (W/mK) Specific Heat Capacity(cs) (J/kgK)

2719 202.4 871

Thermophysical Properties of Aluminium

Thermophysical Properties of water (used as coolant)
(used as Heat sink material)

Property Value

Specific Heat Capacity 4182

Density 980

Viscosity at 25˚C 0.00089

Viscosity at 10˚C 0.001308

NUMERICAL
SIMULATION SET-UP
Tetrahedral mesh
 Boundary name Boundary Type Condition
Channel inlet velocity inlet Hydrodyanamic-
· Uf= U
· V=W=0
· 0.0445 m/s < Uf < 0.3924

Thermal
· Tin= 298.15 K and 283.15K

Channel outlet pressure outlet · Pf= Pout= 1 atm.

Dynamic-
· Uwall = Vwall = Wwall = 0
· ωwall = 0

Shear-
· No slip-
Ufluid (interface) = Vfluid (interface) = Wfluid (interface)= Uwall = Vwall = Wwall = 0

Thermal-
· qz (base surface)= = 100000 W/m2
Base surface wall · qx(base surface) = qy(base surface) = 0

Dynamic-
· Uwall = Vwall = Wwall = 0
· ωwall = 0

Thermal-
· qconduction= = = = 0
Top surface and Side · qconvection= 0
walls wall · qradiation= 0
Assumptions
i) The flow is laminar in nature, incompressible and Newtonian.
ii) The coolant flow and corresponding heat transfer are in steady-state and is
three-dimensional.
iii) The thermophysical properties of coolant and heat sink material are constant.
iv) Viscous dissipation within the fluid and the radiation heat transfer from the
MCHS block is negligible and has been ignored.
v) Flow becomes fully developed at channel inlet.
vi) No slip condition exists at the boundary (solid-fluid interface).The is no mass
change within the system
Governing Equation
Results and Discussions

Effect of undulations on outlet

fluid temperature
Variation of average heat transfer coefficient with number of undulations
Variation of Pressure drop with
Reynold’s No. for Triangle 1, 3 and 5
Numerical Heat Transfer Analysis
of a Rectangular Microchannel
Heat Sink with graphene based
nanofluids
 Why nanofluid cooling?

➢ Increases thermal conductivity of base fluid

➢ High heat dissipation capability
Variables
➢Computation variables
✓ Mass Flow Rate
✓ Volumetric concentration of nanoparticles
✓ Heat Load on the device

➢Output variables
✓Temperature based- Outlet, fluid and base temp.
✓Energy based- Heat absorbed by cooling fluid
✓Flow based- Heat transfer coefficient along length
✓Pressure based- Pressure drop
Parameter Value
Length of channel (mm) 30
Width of channel (mm) 0.5
Height of channel (mm) 5
Height of Base plate (mm) 1
Width of fin (mm) 0.5
Height of fin (mm) 5
Area 2of base plate [model] 315
(mm )
Equations Involved-

➢ Energy equation
➢ Heat Transfer equation for conduction, convection and radiation
➢ Momentum equation
➢ Conservation of mass

Post processing analysis-

Q = m.Cp. ΔT; where ΔT = Tout,nf – Tin,nf [for Q calculation]

Q = h.A.Δt; where Δt = Tavg – ((Tin,nf + Tout,nf) / 2) [for h calculation]
Where Tavg is Area weighted average temperature of base plate
Area = No. of channels x L x (W + 2 x H1)
Δp = pin - pout
 Operating conditions and Fluid properties
Operating conditions Value
Inlet Fluid Temperature Tin (⁰C) 20
Heat Load (W) 50, 100, 150, 200
Mass Flow Rate (kg/s) 0.01, 0.02, 0.03
Nanofluid concentration (vol%) 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2

Thermophysical Properties of Graphene Nanofluid at 20⁰C

Thermal Specific Heat
Conc. Density Viscosity
Conductivity Capacity
0 1000 0.004 0.59 4182
0.05 1025 0.009 0.61 3358
0.1 1055 0.0095 0.625 2807
0.15 1075 0.0104 0.63 2366
0.2 1095 0.013 0.63 1925
Results

Variation of Q as a function of Variation of ΔT with nanoparticle

conc. conc.
Mass flow rate- 0.03 kg/s Mass flow rate- 0.03 kg/s
Heat Load- 100 W Heat Load- 150 W
 Fluid temperature

Variation of ΔT with heat load Variation of ΔT with mass flow rate

Mass flow rate- 0.03 kg/s Heat Load- 50 W
 Pressure variations

Variation of Δp with flow rate Variation of Δp with conc.

Concentration- 0.1% Mass flow Rate- 0.02 kg/s
Heat Load- 150 W Heat Load- 100 W
Heat Transfer Coefficient

Variation of local Heat Transfer

Coefficient along the length of flow

Mass Flow Rate- 0.01 kg/s

Heat Load- 100 W
Concentration- 0%
Model validation

Comparison of experimental results * and

computational heat transfer coefficient
values for different flow rates of nanofluid

Mass Flow Rate- 0.01 kg/s

Heat Load- 100 W
Concentration- 0%

*Balaji, T et al.: Enhanced heat transport

behavior of micro channel heat sink with
graphene based nanofluids. International
Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer
117,104716 (2020).
 Summery
➢ The pressure drop of fluid increases with increase in flow rate and
volumetric concentration of nanoparticles in the base fluid.

➢ Total heat transferred from the solid increases with volumetric

concentration of nanoparticles, resulting in higher outlet fluid
temperature.

➢ Increased heat load on the base plate results in increased temperature

difference between inlet and outlet of nanofluid indicating higher
amount of heat absorption.

➢ Increasing the mass flow rate lowers the outlet temperature of fluid due
to reduced contact time.
CONCLUSIONS
✓ CFD can solve many pain points in liquid or gaseous flow issues, including heat
transfer simulation, changing fluid properties, cavitation, chemical leaks, water
hammer, material pitting or abrasion, flow induced vibration and countless other fluid
scenarios.
✓ Computational Fluid Dynamics Software was a useful method to simulate the fluid
flow behavior with the relevant governing equation.
✓ CFD helps reduce both development times and cost.
✓ CFD allows to optimize the design.
✓ It reduces the probability of critical failure.
✓ It reduces equipment downtime.
To put it in summary: if there is a potential for a flow induced pitfall or a new design
requires the insight of fluid flow simulation, CFD can be the answer.
 REFERENCES
✓ Patankar, S. V. (2010). Airflow and cooling in a data center. Journal of Heat
transfer, 132(7).
✓ Zawawi, M. H., Saleha, A., Salwa, A., Hassan, N. H., Zahari, N. M., Ramli, M. Z., &
Muda, Z. C. (2018, November). A review: Fundamentals of computational fluid
dynamics (CFD). In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2030, No. 1, p. 020252). AIP
✓ Versteeg, H. K. (2007). Malalasekera. Computational Fluid Dynamics-The
finite volume method.
✓ Versteeg, H. K., & Malalasekera, W. (2007). An introduction to
computational fluid dynamics: the finite volume method. Pearson
education.
THANK YOU