Finite element simulations of incompressible flow past a heated/cooled sphere

• Published in: International journal for numerical methods in fluids 1998-10, Vol.28 (6), p.903-915
• Main Authors: Mansoorzadeh, S, Pain, C. C., De Oliveira, C. R. E., Goddard, A. J. H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computational fluid dynamics; Computational methods in fluid dynamics; Computer simulation; Cooling; Drag; drag coefficient; Exact sciences and technology; Finite element method; finite elements; Fluid dynamics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Galerkin methods; Heat transfer; Heating; incompressible flow; Multiphase and particle-laden flows; Multiphase flow; Nonhomogeneous flows; numerical modelling; Physics; Reynolds number; solid sphere
• ISSN: 0271-2091; 1097-0363
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0363(19981030)28:6<903::AID-FLD746>3.0.CO;2-O

This paper reports numerical simulation of the flow past a heated/cooled sphere. A Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the 3D incompressible Boussinesq equations in primitive variable form. Numerical simulations of flow around the sphere for a range of Grashof numbers and moderate Reynolds numbers, were conducted. The drag coefficient for adiabatic flow shows good agreement with standard correlations over the range of the Reynolds numbers investigated. It is shown that the drag can vary considerably with heating of the sphere and that computational fluid dynamics methods can be used to derive constitutive laws for macroscopic momentum and heat exchange in multiphase flow. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.