• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1032-1043
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• 1989

The heat transfer characteristics of the drag reducing polymer solutions are investigated experimentally in the thermal entrance region of circular tube flows. Fluids used in experiments are the aqueous solutions of high molecular polymer, polyacrylamide Separan AP-273 and the range of polymer concentrations is from 20 to 1000 wppm. Two stainless steel tubes with inside diameter 8.5mm(L/D=712) and 10.3mm(L/D=1160) are used for the heat transfer flow loops. The flow loop is set up to measure friction factors and heat transfer coefficients of test sections in two different modes; the recirculating flow system and once-through flow system. The test tubes are heated directly by electricity to apply the constant heat flux boundary conditions to the wall. Three different types of adaptors are used to observe the effects of the upstream flow conditions of the heat transfer test sections. The viscosity and characteristic relaxation time of the test fluids circulating in the flow system are measured by the capillary tube viscometer and falling ball viscometer at regular time intervals. The installed adaptors exhibit slight effect on the entrance heat transfer of Newtonian fluid. However, no noticeable effects are observed for the entrance heat transfer of the drag reducing fluids. The order of magnitude of the thermal entrance lengths of the drag reducing fluids which follow the minimum friction asymptote is much longer than that of Newtonian fluids in turbulent flows. A new dimensionless parameter, the viscoelastic Graetz number, is defined and all the experimental data are recasted in terms of the viscoelastic Graetz number. The local Nusselt number of the viscoelastic fluids is represented as a function of flow behavior index n and the viscoelastic Graetz number. As degradation continues the viscosity and the characteristic relaxation time of the testing fluids decrease. Weissenberg number defined by the relaxation time and D/V appears to be a proper dimensionless parameter in describing degradation effects on heat transfer of the viscoelastic fluids.