Flow Inertia and Heat Transfer in Suddenly Expanding Annular Shear-Thinning Flows

The impact of flow inertia on flow and heat transfer in suddenly expanding annular pipe flows of a shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluid is studied within the steady laminar flow regime. The equations governing conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, along with the power-law constitutive model are numerically solved using a finite-difference numerical scheme. The influence of inflow inertia, annular-nozzle-diameter-ratio, k, power-law index, n, and Prandtl numbers, is reported for: Re = {50, 100}, k = {0, 0.5}; n = {1, 0.6}; and Pr = {1, 10, 100}. Heat transfer augmentation, downstream the plane of expansion, is only observed for Pr = 10 and 100. The extent and intensity of recirculation in the corner region, increases with inflow inertia. Higher Reynolds and Prandtl numbers, power-law index values, and annular diameter ratios, in general, reflect a more dramatic heat transfer augmentation downstream of the expansion plane.