Effects of temperature-dependent viscosity on fully developed laminar forced convection in a curved duct

Abstract For most liquids the specific heat and thermal conductivity are almost independent from temperature, but the viscosity decreases significantly. A fully developed laminar water flow in a curved duct with temperature-dependent viscosity is analyzed in this work. The mass, momentum and energy conservation equations are numerically solved by the finite element method. Both heating and cooling of the water flow is studied. The secondary flow induced by the curvature effects increases the heat transfer rate in comparison with the straight ducts but the velocity and temperature profiles are distorted when the effects of temperature-varying viscosity are included. The Nusselt number obtained when the fluid is cooled with variable viscosity assumption are lower than the constant properties results due to the increase of the viscosity values at the inner points of the curved tube that reduces the secondary flow effect. The friction factor results also show a marked dependence on the viscosity variations in the coil tube cross-section.