Proceedings of the 2009 ASME Heat Transfer Summer Conference

HT2009
July 19-23, 2009, San Francisco, California, USA

HT2009-88192

A METHOD FOR RAPID ESTIMATION OF FLUID TEMPERATURE DROP IN DUCT

FLOWS

Krishnan A. S. Srinivasan K.
Kumaraguru College of Technology Defence Research and Development Laboratory
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT and also is incrementally becoming a core method of analysis

for research problems leading to even doctoral dissertations.
Owing to the persistent interest in the approximate
Mahajan [2] presented his thesis on Order of Magnitude
methods, the order of magnitude analysis is revisited in the
Physics as applied to retinal rod and density of prime numbers,
present work and a method is proposed for the quick estimation
in the form of a textbook. Mendez [3] has presented the order
of drop in temperature of a fluid flowing through a circular
of magnitude scaling of complex problems and its application
duct. The principle involves judicious guessing of temperature
to high productivity arc welding. Utturkar et al. [4] in their
drop for one of the investigated cases, while the temperature
research on jet formation criterion for synthetic jet actuators,
estimates for rest of the cases are deduced from the initial
have carried out order of magnitude analysis along with
guess. A problem of duct flow with widely varying inlet
computational techniques and flow visualization. Mendez and
temperature and mass flow rate conditions, typical of a high
Ordonez [5] have developed an algorithm to obtain scaling
altitude simulation ground test facilities for scramjet
laws from statistical data and dimensional analysis. The
combustors, re-entry vehicles, etc are considered which vary
authors have also illustrated the application to three problems
from 400 K to 1200 K with corresponding mass flow rates of
including the problem of "period of the pendulum". Thus,
300 kg/s to 0.5 kg/s. The results of this quick estimation
approximate techniques have been and continue to be one of
method portray remarkable agreement with the exit
the prime methods of research, especially for analyzing
temperatures of the fluid as predicted by solving the problem
complex scientific problems.
using transient quasi-one dimensional codes and two
dimensional CFD techniques over the entire operating regime More aged than the order of magnitude analysis is the
and hence provide a conservative estimate of vital parameters problem of fluid flow and heat transfer in ducts. Flows through
for any design exercise as well as to rate an existing system at circular ducts have been a subject of study for more than a
off-design conditions. The significant advantages of the century. Early works on this topic dates back to 19th century,
proposed method over the others are viz. (a) simplicity (b) when, Osborne Reynolds [6] conducted his experiments on
lesser computational effort and (c) reasonable accuracy, will be water flow through transparent circular duct to study
elucidated in detail in this article. transitional flow using colored dyes for flow visualization.
Since then, numerous researchers have contributed
INTRODUCTION significantly in various areas of fluid flow and heat transfer in
duct flows. Fluid flow and heat transfer in ducts have
Approximate techniques play a vital role in the design of
ubiquitous application in wide range of engineering problems
variety of engineering systems. It assumes much more
like the industrial pipelines, heat exchangers, etc. While most
importance with increase in the complexity of the system and
of the flow involving heat transfer inside ducts can be
lack of open literature for similar system configurations.
approximated to forced convection, there also exist applications
Approximate techniques have a significant part in the science
wherein buoyancy effects are found to appreciably affect the
of fluid flow and heat transfer. For instance, the Dimensional
flow field and temperature distribution in the duct, to large
Analysis, Order of Magnitude Analysis as applied to the
extent. Such flows are called mixed convection flows and has
boundary layer, are few of the well established techniques [1].
also attracted large bunch of heat transfer researchers. While
Such techniques do continue to share its importance even today

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conventional textbook analyses assume the flow to be hydro- d diameter, m
dynamically and thermally developed, most practical problems h heat transfer coefficient, W/m2K
stay away from it and in some cases the length of the duct itself hentry specific enthalpy of air at inlet, J/kg
is found to be insufficient for a developed flow to begin. Quite hexit specific enthalpy of air at outlet, J/kg
quanta of effort have gone from various scientists and k thermal conductivity, W/(m-K)
academicians on the fluid flow and heat transfer in the entrance L length of the duct, m
region. A few of recent works have been stated here for the m mass of the duct material, kg
sake of completeness. Shou-Shing et al. [7] have discussed the mass flow rate, kg/s
problem of developing turbulent mixed convection in a O(x) Order of ‘x’
horizontal circular tube with strip-type inserts. Tzeng [8] in his P pressure, bar
analysis on mixed convection had presented a simple linear r radius, m
algebraic model for accurate prediction of friction factor and T temperature, K
heat transfer coefficient. Grassi and Testi [9] have presented TDF temperature drop factor, dimensionless
correlations for heat transfer for turbulent mixed convection in ∆H enthalpy difference, J
the entrance region of a uniformly heated horizontal tube. ∆t time duration, s
While the common applications and most of research work ΔTsa initial temperature difference between inlet air and
mentioned in the above paragraph relate to traditional duct, K
applications, mixed convection flows are also found to occur in Subscripts
cutting edge technology areas like high-speed flow test a air
facilities like scramjet engine test facilities, hypersonic wind exit exit conditions
tunnels etc. Flow in many of the components in such systems f film
are unsteady, turbulent, developing flows with buoyancy effects i inner
tending to be dominant, and thus pose a formidable task to be o outer
modeled. Obtaining quick and reliable numbers is very ss or w wall
important not only for the initial design, but also for cost and ∞ free stream conditions
time estimation for the completion of the task. Greek symbols
γ ratio of specific heats
The problem under consideration is flow of hot air through µ dynamic viscosity, Nm/s2
a circular duct for duration of about 30 s. The inlet temperature ν kinematic viscosity, m2/s
and mass flow rates vary from 400 K to 1000 K and 300 kg/s to
ρ density, kg/m3
0.5 kg/s respectively. Such are typical values of high-speed test
facilities like the ones quoted in [10] and [11]. Figure 1 shows
METHODOLOGY
the system taken for analysis, viz. a circular pipe of 0.5 m ID,
made of SA106 of thickness 0.05m. The pipe initially is at As mentioned earlier, in the present work, three different
ambient temperature and hot air at the required mass flow rate techniques are discussed which are as follows:
and temperature enters the duct. The temperature of air drops 1. Order of Magnitude Analysis (OMA)
as it flows through the pipeline. For a given material, duct 2. Quasi-one dimensional analysis
dimensions, inlet temperature of the air and initial temperature 3. Two dimensional CFD analysis
of the pipeline, the drop in temperature varies with the mass
While energy balance is the basis for all the methods, the
flow rate of air and temperature difference between the air and
last technique is based on the conservation of mass, momentum
the pipeline. The objective is to estimate the temperature of the
as well as energy. OMA however, is distinctly different from
air at the exit of the pipeline for a specified duct material, inlet
the other two methods in the sense that it does not attempt to
air temperature and duration.
solve the governing partial differential equations. The
In the present article three methods, including an Order of following section presents in detail the technique of solving the
Magnitude Analysis (OMA) are described with focus on the problems using OMA.
OMA to elucidate the efficacy of the technique. The other two
techniques are not discussed in as detail as OMA for obvious Order of Magnitude Analysis (OMA)
reasons. Nevertheless, certain predominant points as the
The analysis carried out in this technique is of macroscopic
governing equations, boundary conditions and alike have been
nature and the method yields only an approximate value of the
listed.
parameter desired to be predicted. Nevertheless, the so obtained
value is representative of the order of the exact value of the
NOMENCLATURE
parameter.
A area, m2
cp specific heat capacity, J/(kg-K)

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 By energy balance, assuming that there are no losses from
the outer surface of the duct,
Energy lost by air = Energy gained by the material of the
duct, i.e.,
for temperature rise of the shell, as it turns out from the
analysis.
TABLE 1. VARIATION OF TEMPERATURE DROP FACTOR

m& (hentry − hexit ) ≈ ΔH ss (1) TDF: Temperature Drop Factor

TDF=26.364/ma
⎡ mc p (T f − Ti ) ⎤ m& a , kg/s
[m& c p ]
(Tentry − Texit ) air ≈ ⎢
Δt
⎥ (2)
SNo.
1 290
TDF
0.091
⎣ ⎦ ss 2 4.4 5.99
Rearrangement of the equation (2) gives 3 290 0.091
4 2.25 11.71
⎡ (mc p )ss 1 ⎤ 5 133 0.20
ΔTair ≈ ⎢ ⎥ ΔTss
⎢⎣ (m& c p )air Δt ⎥⎦
(3) 6 1.25 21.09
7 63 0.42
8 0.73 36.12
In the aforementioned equation, for the cause of convenience, 9 33 0.80
let the terms inside the bracket in the RHS be called as 10 0.57 46.25
temperature drop factor (TDF), a dimensionless parameter. For
11 14.2 1.86
a given material and dimensions of the duct, fluid medium and
12 0.46 57.31
test-run time, the TDF depends on the mass flow rate of air. For
the parameters shown in Fig. 1 and time duration of 30s, the 13 7.9 3.34
TDF turns out to be: 14 0.4 65.91
26.364
TDF = (4)
m&
100.00

Stainless steel (SA106) 10.00

ρ=8000 kg/m3
cp=460 J/(kg-K)
TDF

1.00

0.05 m
0.10
Air
0.5 m
inlet
0.01
0.1 1 10 100 1000
m a, kg/s
2.5 m
FIGURE 2 VARIATION OF TEMPERATURE DROP
FIGURE 1 SCHEMATIC OF THE CIRCULAR DUCT
FACTOR

Table 1 gives the TDF for the range of mass flow rates
considered in this study. The same is represented graphically in
Fig. 2. The input parameters of inlet temperature and mass
flow rates for different cases considered for analysis in the
present study are given in Table 2. It is clear from the table 2
that the range considered encompasses both buoyancy
dominated flows as well as regimes where buoyancy effects
are negligible. The assumption of constant specific heat for the
duct material is based on the fact that the variation is negligible
Let us consider the extreme cases of combinations, viz.,
high mass flow rate and low temperature and low mass flow
rate and high temperature (S. Nos. 1 and 14). Let ΔTa1 and
ΔTss1 represent the drop in air temperature along the duct and
raise in duct temperature respectively for Case 1 and
corresponding parameters for Case 2 be denoted as ΔTa2 and
ΔTss2. Then we have from Table 1,
ΔTa1 = 0.0909ΔTss1 (5)

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 ΔTa 2 = 73.23ΔTss 2 (6)
For a given duct and time duration of flow, assuming that the cp
of the material of the duct does not vary significantly over the
temperature considered here, the temperature rise of the
material of the duct depends on both the (a) enthalpy of
incoming air and (b) temperature difference between the air and
the duct
Stated otherwise for the two different cases under consideration
ΔTss1 ∝ m& a1ha1ΔTsa1 (7)
& a ha ΔTsa is maximum and this corresponds to S
the product m
No. 5 in Table 2. This helps us in justification of the chosen
guess value of the temperature difference. The mass flow rate
and inlet temperature for this case are 133 kg/s and 638 K
respectively, i.e. a potential of 638-303K = 305 K ≈ O(100). It
is to be decided if this order of temperature difference is to be
assigned to temperature drop in air or temperature raise of the
shell, i.e., the duct material. Assigning O(100) temperature
difference for ΔTa1 would impose O(1000) for ΔTss1 as per
Table 1, which is unrealistic. Hence
ΔTss1 ≈ O(100) (10)

ΔTss 2 ∝ m& a 2 ha 2 ΔTsa 2 (8) Substituting equation (10) in (9) gives

ΔTss 2 ≈ O(1) (11)

ΔTss1 m& a1ha1ΔTsa1
= (9)
ΔTss 2 m& a 2 ha 2 ΔTsa 2 Likewise on substituting equations (10) and (11) in equations
(5) and (6) respectively, we obtain,
The table 2 gives a list of the range of parameters. The fifth ΔTa1 ≈ O(1) (12)
column ΔT, represents the difference in temperature between
the incoming air and the initial temperature of the duct. The ΔTa 2 ≈ O(100) (13)
product of this difference with enthalpy of incoming air is The above results are as shown in Table 3.
given in the last column.
TABLE 3 TYPICAL RESULTS FOR THE ORDER OF
TABLE 2 RANGE OF PARAMETERS MAGNITUDE ANALYSIS
Temperature Order, K
S. m& a , m& a ha ΔTsa , Difference
No. T, K kg/s ΔT, K W-K ΔTss1 100
1 423 290 120 4.197E+09 ΔTss2 1
2 845 4.4 542 1.299E+09 ΔTa1 1
3 524 290 221 1.417E+10 ΔTa2 100
4 710 2.25 407 3.753E+08
5 638 133 335 1.502E+10 The predicted raise in shell temperature and the drop in air
6 604 1.25 301 1.141E+08 temperature for all the operating points are presented in the
7 762 63 459 1.335E+10 subsequent sections. An advantage of this method is the
8 574 0.73 271 5.404E+07 simplicity, and for the effort invested yields reasonably
accurate results. In other words, the technique is quite efficient.
9 900 33 597 1.182E+10
Although approximate, this method gives not only an idea of
10 701 0.57 398 9.088E+07 the values to be predicted, but also bounds by which the values
11 1030 14.2 727 7.543E+09 can vary. The values so predicted can be made use of as initial
12 842 0.46 539 1.344E+08 guess values during the course of a numerical simulation. This
13 1183 7.9 880 6.148E+09 concludes the method of Order of Magnitude Analysis. It is
14 998 0.4 695 1.942E+08 reiterated that this technique is not a simple and direct
application of the energy balance wherein one unknown
temperature is computed based on known parameters. The
Now, if the approximate value of any one of the potential of the method lies in computing of multiple unknown
temperature differences, viz. ΔTa1, ΔTa2, ΔTss1 or ΔTss2 is temperatures using a judicious guess temperature or
known, it is possible to predict the value of the others by temperature difference.
employing equations (3) and (9). The choice of the temperature
difference and its guess value assumes importance as it Quasi-One Dimensional (1D) Analysis
considerably influences the other values down the line. In A straightforward transient energy balance for fluid and
regards to the problem under consideration, the case in which shell over an infinitesimal control volume yields the following
governing equations for the estimation of temperature

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distributions of air (axial variation) and wall (radial variation). low mass flow rates, effect of buoyancy has also been taken
The first of the two equations (eq. (14)) quantifies the heat loss into consideration for the CFD analysis.
by the air by convection to the inner wall of the shell.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
∂Ta The results of predictions of the temperature of the fluid at
m& c p = hAi (Ta − Tw ) (14)
the exit of a circular duct after 30 seconds duration for various
∂x
inlet temperatures and mass flow rates, by three different
where Ai is the surface area of the inner wall per unit length. techniques presented above are discussed here. In the order of
The second equation represents the phenomena of the heat magnitude analysis, the case which has the maximum of the
gained by the shell and the conduction loss through it which is enthalpy-temperature difference product has been chosen with
finally dissipated to ambient by convection and is represented reference temperature difference of the order of 100 K for
as follows (in cylindrical coordinates). reasons quoted in quasi-one dimensional analysis section.
The drop in temperature of the air across the length of the
∂ Tw 1 ∂Tw 1 ∂Tw
2 duct has been estimated by all the three techniques for various
+ = (15) cases of inlet temperature and mass flow rate of the air at the
∂r 2 r ∂r α ∂t inlet. Graphical representation of the air temperature at exit for
select few cases which includes combinations of low
The equations (14) and (15) are to be solved simultaneously in temperature – high mass flow rate and vice-versa are shown in
accordance with the following initial and boundary conditions. Figs. 3A-H. The ultimate parameter of interest is the exit
Initial conditions temperature of air at the end of 30 seconds and hence is
tabulated along with the inlet conditions as presented below in
At t=0, Tw=Tamb for all ‘x’ (16) Table 4. The Texit given in Table 4 represents area weighted
Boundary conditions average temperature for 2D CFD analysis, while for Quasi 1D
analysis, there is no consideration given to variation of
At x=0, Ta=Tinlet for all ‘t’ (17) temperature at exit. The deviations of the exit temperatures
estimated by OMA with other two techniques are obtained
∂T keeping the inlet temperature of the air as reference. The
At r=ri (inner wall): h(Ta − Tw ) = − k (18)
∂r ri
maximum deviation in the results of the order of magnitude
analysis from the results of quasi-one dimensional analysis and
∂T the two dimensional CFD analysis are 11 and 6 percents
At r=ro (outer wall): − k = h(Tw − T∞ ) (19) respectively. Considering the simplicity of the order of
∂r ro magnitude analysis over the other two methods of analysis the
magnitude of the errors are not very significant. The order of
The equations (14) and (15) are to be solved numerically with magnitude analysis thus provides a preliminary conservative
the initial and boundary conditions (16-19) to obtain the estimate of the parameters of vital importance for any design
temperature distributions of the fluid and shell respectively. A exercise.
computer code has been developed using explicit scheme.

Transient Two-dimensional CFD analysis

This section presents the details of the computational fluid
dynamic analysis performed on the system under consideration.
This type of problem is usually treated in literature as two-
dimensional unsteady non-isothermal flow between two
parallel plates and the same has been adopted here. The plates
are separated by a distance of 0.5m (inner diameter of the
circular duct). The modeling and meshing of the geometry was
carried out using Gambit 2.2.30. The number of grids has been
fixed after grid independence study. Initial and boundary
conditions are similar to those used in the Quasi-1d analysis
described in the previous section. The governing equations are
solved using commercial code FLUENT 6.2 with two
parameter k-epsilon turbulence model. As some of the flow
ranges considered here have high temperature differences with
FIGURE 3A - AIR TEMPERATURE PROFILE AT EXIT (CASE 1)

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FIGURE 3B - AIR TEMPERATURE PROFILE AT EXIT (CASE 2) FIGURE 3E - AIR TEMPERATURE PROFILE AT EXIT (CASE 9)

FIGURE 3C - AIR TEMPERATURE PROFILE AT EXIT (CASE 5) FIGURE 3F - AIR TEMPERATURE PROFILE AT EXIT (CASE 10)

FIGURE 3D - AIR TEMPERATURE PROFILE AT EXIT (CASE 6) FIGURE 3G - AIR TEMPERATURE PROFILE AT EXIT (CASE 13)

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 From Table 4, it can also be seen that the results of OMA of flow of high temperature air through a circular duct for
has deviation of less than 10% in comparison with other two various inlet conditions, with prime focus on the Order of
methods, for more than 95% of the cases. The order of Magnitude Analysis. The results of the analysis indicate
magnitude analysis, in addition to the estimation of fluid respectable comparison of the predictions from the OMA with
temperature, is also able to provide the shell temperature. Table the other two techniques, viz., the Quasi-one dimensional
5 shows the rise in shell temperature for different conditions analysis and 2D-CFD analysis. It is also to be noted that the
considered. As the emphasis of the present method is more on OMA is not a straight through estimation of unknown
fluid temperature rather than on shell temperature, the shell parameters by substitution of known, while it is the deduction
temperatures obtained by other two methods are not shown of the required parameters by judicious initial guess. The
here. following are the major conclusions that can be drawn from the
study:
TABLE 4 COMPARISONS OF THE RESULTS OF OMA WITH
QUASI-ONE DIMENSIONAL AND CFD ANALYSIS a. OMA helps in understanding the physics of the flow
in a much simpler way.
S. b. The temperature predictions by Order of Magnitude
Texit, K % Deviation analysis are comparable to those obtained from the
No.
OMA quasi-one dimensional analysis and CFD analysis.
OMA c. Although seemingly simple, the OMA provides results
Quasi vs
OMA CFD vs accurate in relation to the computational effort. In fact
1D Quasi
CFD explicitly stated, the OMA requires only a simple
1D
calculator to estimate the temperatures.
1 420.5 422.9 422 0.58 0.37
d. OMA can be very handy to generate approximate
2 514.9 523.4 538.1 1.64 4.49
estimates of requisite parameters for design of
3 618.4 637.7 634.3 3.12 2.57 equipments for situations, where correlations do not
4 725.0 760.7 754.9 4.93 4.12 exist or CFD simulations cannot be carried out.
5 837.2 896.4 887.8 7.08 6.04 e. OMA can also find its application in the rating of
6 936.9 1020.2 974.5 8.9 4.01 existing equipment when it is required to operate in
7 1046.5 1162.7 1050 11.1 0.33 off-design conditions.
8 793.2 828.1 823.8 4.39 3.86 It should be noted that the method described has worked
9 681.1 691.8 691.4 1.56 1.49 well for the present case and is not generalized. Although the
10 588.4 586.3 588 0.35 0.07 method of Order of Magnitude Analysis is about a century old
11 561.4 553.5 557 1.41 0.79 technique, the proposed estimation method is first of its kind
12 673.3 663.3 671 1.49 0.35 and hence applied to a less severe system to retain its simplicity
13 791.0 779.2 782 1.48 1.13 without much loss of generality. An obvious extension of the
present work is application of the technique to a wide variety of
14 912.9 901.8 885 1.21 3.05
problems including but not limited to cases of variation of
thermo-physical properties, non-circular geometries, etc.
TABLE 5 TEMPERATURE RAISE OF SHELL FOR
VARIOUS MACH NUMBERS FOR REFERENCE ΔT = 100 K
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
m& a , m& a , The authors express their sincere gratitude towards their
T, K Order T, K Order respective organization for providing constant support and
kg/s kg/s
encouragement to carry-out the present work.
423 290 10 845 4.4 10
524 290 100 710 2.25 1
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638 133 100 604 1.25 1
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High Productivity Arc Welding", PhD thesis,
The foregoing sections have presented in sagacious detail,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 1999.
three different techniques of analysis as applied to the problem

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