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LES investigation of heat transfer in a tube with irregular roughness at moderate Prandtl numbers

Garg, Himani LU orcid and Kadivar, Mohammadreza (2025) In International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 169 Part E.
Abstract
Wall-bounded turbulent flows are central to a wide range of engineering applications, where surface roughness can significantly influence both frictional drag and convective heat transfer. While the momentum effects of roughness have been significantly advanced in the literature, the thermal counter parts remain insufficiently understood. This study addresses the critical gap in understanding rough-wall turbulent heat transfer at higher Prandtl numbers. Using wall-resolved Large Eddy Simulations (LES), we investigate convective heat transfer in a tube with irregular Gaussian roughness across bulk Reynolds numbers ranging from 4000 to 15,000 and Prandtl numbers of 1, 3, 5, and 7. This study provides the first systematic examination of... (More)
Wall-bounded turbulent flows are central to a wide range of engineering applications, where surface roughness can significantly influence both frictional drag and convective heat transfer. While the momentum effects of roughness have been significantly advanced in the literature, the thermal counter parts remain insufficiently understood. This study addresses the critical gap in understanding rough-wall turbulent heat transfer at higher Prandtl numbers. Using wall-resolved Large Eddy Simulations (LES), we investigate convective heat transfer in a tube with irregular Gaussian roughness across bulk Reynolds numbers ranging from 4000 to 15,000 and Prandtl numbers of 1, 3, 5, and 7. This study provides the first systematic examination of rough-wall turbulent heat transfer for Prandtl numbers greater than 2. Results showed a consistent increase in temperature roughness function () with Prandtl number (), while its variation with roughness Reynolds number () exhibited distinct trends between transitionally and fully rough regimes. The heat field reached the fully rough regime earlier than the momentum field, showing stronger sensitivity to , particularly for high- fluids. Heat transfer enhancement increased up to 4.5 times with increasing Reynolds number; however, frictional losses outweighed thermal gains, deviating from the Reynolds analogy. Increasing improved thermal gains without affecting friction, resulting in Reynolds analogy efficiency exceeding unity for ≥ 3. Based on these findings, a new correlation for Reynolds analogy efficiency is proposed, by introducing a Prandtl-number-dependent term. (Less)
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author
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organization
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Heat transfer, Roughness, Turbulent boundary layers, Reynolds analogy, Turbulent flows, Numerical simulations, CFD modeling
in
International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer
volume
169 Part E
article number
109931
pages
12 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105020377396
ISSN
0735-1933
DOI
10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2025.109931
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5602fd27-7fb7-4ead-af7f-7970be42f25a
date added to LUP
2025-11-12 12:25:05
date last changed
2025-12-02 09:59:11
@article{5602fd27-7fb7-4ead-af7f-7970be42f25a,
  abstract     = {{Wall-bounded turbulent flows are central to a wide range of engineering applications, where surface roughness can significantly influence both frictional drag and convective heat transfer. While the momentum effects of roughness have been significantly advanced in the literature, the thermal counter parts remain insufficiently understood. This study addresses the critical gap in understanding rough-wall turbulent heat transfer at higher Prandtl numbers. Using wall-resolved Large Eddy Simulations (LES), we investigate convective heat transfer in a tube with irregular Gaussian roughness across bulk Reynolds numbers ranging from 4000 to 15,000 and Prandtl numbers of 1, 3, 5, and 7. This study provides the first systematic examination of rough-wall turbulent heat transfer for Prandtl numbers greater than 2. Results showed a consistent increase in temperature roughness function () with Prandtl number (), while its variation with roughness Reynolds number () exhibited distinct trends between transitionally and fully rough regimes. The heat field reached the fully rough regime earlier than the momentum field, showing stronger sensitivity to , particularly for high- fluids. Heat transfer enhancement increased up to 4.5 times with increasing Reynolds number; however, frictional losses outweighed thermal gains, deviating from the Reynolds analogy. Increasing improved thermal gains without affecting friction, resulting in Reynolds analogy efficiency exceeding unity for  ≥ 3. Based on these findings, a new correlation for Reynolds analogy efficiency is proposed, by introducing a Prandtl-number-dependent term.}},
  author       = {{Garg, Himani and Kadivar, Mohammadreza}},
  issn         = {{0735-1933}},
  keywords     = {{Heat transfer; Roughness; Turbulent boundary layers; Reynolds analogy; Turbulent flows; Numerical simulations; CFD modeling}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer}},
  title        = {{LES investigation of heat transfer in a tube with irregular roughness at moderate Prandtl numbers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2025.109931}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2025.109931}},
  volume       = {{169 Part E}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}