Temperature and Velocity Distribution and Transfer of Heat in a Liquid Metal

Abstract

The results of an experimental investigation of the velocity and temperature distributions, together with the corresponding eddy diffusivity and heat-transfer results in a cooled stream of turbulently flowing mercury are presented. The temperature and velocity traverses of the mercury stream were made in a 1.61-in-ID nickel pipe over a range of Reynolds moduli of from approximately 250,000 to 800,000, with constant heat flux, and with the Prandtl modulus maintained substantially constant at 0.02. The relative radial position in a circular pipe at which the bulk mean temperature corresponds to the local temperature was found to be substantially constant and independent of the Reynolds modulus for the range of Reynolds moduli employed. A similar velocity relationship was found to exist. The ratio α of the eddy diffusivity for heat transfer to the eddy diffusivity for momentum transfer at the mean radius was between 0.7 for the lower Reynolds number and 0.9 for the higher Reynolds number. It was found that, in the absence of an interfacial resistance effect, the Martinelli-Lyon equation represents the heat-transfer data reasonably well, especially if allowance is made for the variation of the eddy-diffusivity ratio α with the Reynolds number.