Heat Transfer to Flowing Granular Media

Citation

Sullivan, William Noel (1973) Heat Transfer to Flowing Granular Media. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/9CC8-A074. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-03262007-132934

Abstract

The convective heat transfer resulting from a granular flow over a heated surface is investigated. The specific type of flow considered is that in which adjacent material particles are in physical contact. The qualitative features of this type of flow are discussed, and the existing equations of motion are extended. With regard to the equations of motion, an exact solution is shown which has applications concerning the mass flow rate of granular materials through hoppers. The particular heat transfer problem investigated is convection from a flat plate with its long axis parallel to the flow field. An approximate analytical solution, which takes into account the particulate nature of the medium, is developed and experimental measurements obtained. The theory was found to correctly predict the trends of the experimental data. The results indicate that the Nusselt number for this configuration is influenced substantially, under certain conditions, by the noncontinuous nature of the medium. A semi-empirical correlation is presented, based on experimental results obtained with four different granular materials.

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