ME2121 Thermodynamics

Prof. Arun S Mujumdar

Demo of Numerical Simulation:

Thermal Field in a room with a rectangular
heated block-
2-D Case
By Wang Xiangqi
Arun
„ This example is only for illustration.
„ You will not be assessed on this material.
„ The objective is simply to give a simple example
of what information thermodynamics gives and
when one needs to utilize fluid mechanics and
heat transfer models.
 Objective of exercise
„ The following case demonstrates the difference in
information obtained from Thermodynamics vs that
obtained from solution of differential mass, momentum
and energy conservation equations
„ The case examined is simply of a large room with a hot
water container placed in it which loses heat to the
ambient air until thermal equilibrium is reached.
Application of First Law gives the final equilibrium
temperature of the well-insulated room. Both water and
air would be at the same temperature at infinite time.
 Assumptions
„ We assume the room and container are 2-
dimensional i.e. deep into the screen. 3-D
simulation can be done but is highly computing
time intensive (by over one order of magnitude)

„ Simulation is run until ambient air becomes

reasonably uniform in temperature (but not yet
quite at final thermal equilibrium state!)
 Problem Description
2D Simplification: Physical domain and BCs
Materials:
• Air: idea gas
• Water: Boussinesq
approximation

Boundary Conditions:
• Room walls: Adiabatic
• Container walls: Conservative
heat transfer

Initial Conditions:
• P=100 kPa
• Air: 295.15 K
• Water: 353.15 K
 Model and Analysis
Overview of Meshes: Meshes:
• N=18,000
• Refined meshes near the boundary of
the container

Models:
• Ra (air)=3.5E09
• Ra (water)=1.3E13
• Turbulence model: standard k-e model
• Effect of buoyancy: natural conv.

Schemes:
• Pressure-velocity: SIMPLE
• Others: second-order upwind

Time step:
• Delta t=0.1 s

Computed time:
Note: actually the meshes shown here are not • t=1E4 s, total steps=1E5
enough for accurate solution, just for demo.
 Note
„ This simulation, using Fluent 6.1 CFD code, shows
only the overall results visually.
„ As expected natural convection currents develop within
the chamber as heated air rises from the hot water
container walls; to maintain mass continuity air is drawn
to the heater and thus creates a recirculation pattern.
„ In the simulation , despite symmetry, the currents
appear to be asymmetric-this maybe a numerical artifact
or a real instability (not studied in depth yet).
 Details- ignore if not interested!
„ Note that the real problem is a transient one i.e. time-
dependent
„ Thermal equilibrium takes a long time to reach
(theoretically infinite time!)
„ To see what happens during the time from the instant
the hot water is placed in the room to the time when all
temperatures equalize, we must solve the rate
equations, which are highly nonlinear and have no
analytical solution. Choice of boundary conditions is
very important.
 Mass, Momentum and Energy
Equations governing the problem
Mass:

Momentum:

• k- ε model:

k:

ε:

• Boussinesq model:

Energy:
 Typical Results
Temperature Field at Selected Transient Time: :

t=50s t=100s t=200s

t=400s t=800s t=1500s

 Observations
„ Flow/thermal field is very complex even in two dimensions.
Flow is generated by temperature-induced buoyancy force
„ Hot water loses heat to surrounding air. The rate of heat transfer
depends on the free convection currents set up within the
chamber due to density gradients
„ As equilibrium is reached gradient for heat transfer decreases,
thus requiring long times to reach equilibrium (in fact infinite
time is required for true equilibrium to be reached).
„ Thermodynamics gives us only the final equilibrium condition-
not the time required for it nor what flow patterns are generated
as time progresses.
„ Note fluid mechanics and heat transfer govern the progression
to thermodynamic equilibrium.
 Results and Discussion
Evolution of
Temperature
Distribution
with Time

Typical
Thermal field
 Concluding Remarks
„ Due to the high Rayleigh number (measure of free convection)
for this free convection case, , the computational mesh needs to
be highly refined to get accurate results;
„ The evolution of the temperature contours (isotherms) appears
to be asymmetric due to possible instability ( no research yet on
this configuration) or numerical artifact;
„ The time to reach true thermal equilibrium is too long to be
simulated fully.
„ This is a highly computing-intensive problem-even in 2-D.
„ Shown here only to illustrate how thermodynamic analysis
differs from that of rate processes involving momentum or
energy transfer