Energies (Apr 2023)
Correlations of Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Data for Lattice Brick Settings in Tunnel Kilns
Abstract
This paper proposes correlation equations of heat transfer and pressure drop for the design and operation of tunnel kilns loaded with lattice brick settings of different geometrical parameters in the form of Nusselt number and friction factor. The developed correlation equations considered parameters that were not investigated in previous studies, such as the relative roughness of the bricks and the stack channels, and they also extended the Reynolds numbers to a practical range that was not covered before in a simple, practical form. The correlation equations are valid for Reynolds number between 125 and 10,200, Prandtl number between 0.68 and 0.73, brick’s relative roughness between 0.23 and 0.93, voidage fraction between 0.48 and 0.653, and the geometrical parameters of the tested lattice brick settings. The achieved correlations of the Nusselt number and the friction factor are well compared with the available correlations in the literature in their valid range of parameters. It is found that Nusselt numbers and the friction factors for low-density are higher than those of high-density settings for all considered parameters except the voidage fraction. The effect of the considered parameters confirms that Nusselt numbers increase and the friction factors decrease substantially with the Reynolds number and slightly with the Prandtl number. At a constant Reynolds number, both the Nusselt number and the friction factor increase as the brick’s relative roughness is increased. Moreover, as the stack channel spacing is increased, the Nusselt number decreases, and the friction factor increases. The voidage fraction of the setting has a monotonic effect on both Nusselt numbers and friction factors. Nusselt numbers for high-density are higher than those for low-density settings as the voidage fraction varies.
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