Internal Heat Transfer to Power-Law Fluid Flows Through Porous Media

Heat transfer and pressure drop were measured for flow of aqueous solutions of Carbopol 934 ® and Carbopol EZ1 ® through a vertical tube filled with porous media. The heated stainless steel test section has an inside diameter of 2.25 cm, and is 200 diameters long. The porosity was varied from 0.32 to 0.68 by using uniform spherical glass beads. Uniform heat flux thermal boundary condition was imposed by passing direct electric current through the tube wall. Over a range of 45 < Re a < 7,000, 21 < Pr a < 58, 0.62 < n < 0.80, 1.6 < D/d < 4.5, and polymer concentration from 250 to 500 ppm, the friction factor data agreed with the Newtonian prediction. Heat transfer to power-law fluids increases with increasing Re a and Pr a , and decreasing porosity. A new correlation was proposed for predicting the heat transfer to power-law fluid flows through confined porous media.