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Journal of Applied Physics / Volume 111 / Issue 1 / ARTICLES / Interdisciplinary and General Physics

J. Appl. Phys. 111, 014902 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3671672 (10 pages)

Tree-shaped fluid flow and heat storage in a conducting solid

L. Combelles1,2, S. Lorente2, R. Anderson3, and A. Bejan1

1Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0300, USA
2Université de Toulouse, UPS, INSA, LMDC (Laboratoire Matériaux et Durabilité des Constructions), 135 avenue de Rangueil, F-31 077 Toulouse Cedex 04, France
3National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, Colorado 80401-3305, USA

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(Received 21 September 2011; accepted 12 November 2011; published online 3 January 2012)

This paper documents the time-dependent thermal interaction between a fluid stream configured as a plane tree of varying complexity embedded in a conducting solid with finite volume and insulated boundaries. The time scales of the convection-conduction phenomenon are identified. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional configurations are simulated numerically. The number of length scales of the tree architecture varies from one to four. The results show that the heat transfer density increases, and the time of approach to equilibrium decreases as the complexity of the tree designs increases. These results are then formulated in the classical notation of energy storage by sensible heating, which shows that the effective number of heat transfer units increases as the complexity of the tree design increases. The complexity of heat transfer designs in many applications is constrained by first cost and operating cost considerations. This work provides a fundamental basis for objective evaluation of cost and performance tradeoffs in thermal design of energy systems with complexity as an unconstrained parameter that can be actively varied over a broad range to determine the optimum system design.

© 2012 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. TREE-SHAPED FLOW
  3. TWO-DIMENSIONAL TREE FLOW
  4. SCALE ANALYSIS
  5. THREE-DIMENSIONAL TREE FLOW
  6. DISCUSSION

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

convection, heat transfer, thermal energy storage

PACS

  • 84.60.Ve

    Energy storage systems, including capacitor banks

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3671672

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0021-8979 (print)  
1089-7550 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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Figures (16)

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