Turbulent Heat Transfer to Heavy Liquid Metals in Circular Tubes

The present paper gives a brief literature review on turbulent heat transfer in heavy liquid metals (HLM), especially liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE). Some models available in the open literature on heat transfer and turbulent Prandtl number are assessed. In addition, CFD analysis is carried out for circular tube geometries. The effect of turbulence models, mesh structure and turbulent Prandtl number on the numerical results is studied. Application of ε-type turbulence models with scalable wall function shows less dependence of the numerical results on mesh structure than the ω-type turbulence models with automatic wall treatment. The turbulent Prandtl number affects strongly the heat transfer performance. Comparison between the CFD results, heat transfer correlations and heat transfer test data reveals a decrease in turbulent Prandtl number by increasing Reynolds number. Based on the results achieved, recommendations are made on correlations of heat transfer and turbulent Prandtl number for LBE flows.