Heat Transfer Enhancement due to Acoustic Fields: A Methodological Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to expose the main involved physical phenomena underlying the alteration of convective heat transfer in a heat exchanger subjected to imposed vibrations. This technique seems to have interesting features and industrial applications, such as for efficiency increases, heat transfer rate control and cleanliness action. However, a clear description and comprehension of how vibrations may alter the convective heat transfer coefficient in a heat exchanger has still not been reached due to the complexity of the involved physical mechanisms. For this reason, after a presentation and a schematization of the analyzed thermodynamic system, the fundamental alterations of the thermo-fluid dynamics fields are described. Then, the main involved physical phenomena are exposed for the three cases of gaseous, monophasic liquid and boiling liquid mediums. Finally, on the basis of the characteristics of these described phenomena, some considerations and indications of general validity are presented.