ABSTRACT

Convective heat transfer in turbulent pulsating flow was experimentally investigated in this study. Pulsating airflow was produced using a device on the basis of a design idea of on-and-off flow passage. The pulsating flow rate was measured by means of converting a pulsating flow to a steady flow. Both the flow-rate measurement and the generation of oscillatory heat transfer were conducted simultaneously, performing some technical measures. A new dimensionless pulsation amplitude derived from the pressure transfer function in the test section was proposed to describe the amplitude of pulsating flow. It is concluded the averaged Nusselt value of heat transfer in turbulent pulsating pipe flow is one of the functions of the Reynolds number, pulsation frequency, and pulsation amplitude. A correlation for the functional relationship was obtained by means of linear regression analysis of the experimental results, and validated and evaluated by three aspects of discussion. This correlation will be useful for heat transfer calculation of pulsation thermal equipment.