CONVECTIVE-DIFFUSIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN TUBES: ROLE OF THE HYDRODYNAMICS OF FLOW ON THE FEASIBILITY DOMAIN OF THE ASYMPTOTIC TEMPERATURE PROFILES

Abstract In this contribution, an assessment of the role of the hydrodynamics of flow on the asymptotic solutions used to describe convective-diffusive heat transfer in packed-bed and capillary tubes of cylindrical geometry is reported. Such asymptotic solutions are intrinsically dependent from the type of hydrodynamics present in the tubes. They describe the temperature profiles for heat transfer problems found in packed-bed and capillary systems with axial convective and radial diffusive transport and having a constant heat flux at the outer tube wall. The role of the hydrodynamics of the flow on the asymptotic temperature profiles and their feasibility region of validity for both the packed-bed and capillary tube cases were assessed and feasibility ranges identified. A brief comparison of the predictions for the two cases analyzed is also included. The analysis of the impact of the hydrodynamics on the ranges of validity for the asymptotic temperature profiles seems to be first one available.