LAUSR

Abstract Heat transfer in a partially-filled, rotating inclined pipe with water flowing through it is experimentally investigated. The test section is a 1000 mm long stainless steel pipe with 32.8 mm inner diameter and 1.1 mm wall thickness. The outer wall is painted black to improve its emissivity. The outer wall temperature distribution is captured using a thermal camera. Uniform wall heat flux (1405–10784 W/m2), water volumetric flow rate (100–830 ml/min), rotation rate (10–300 RPM) and pipe inclination angle (3° and 6°) are varied to study their influence on the heat transfer coefficient. Local heat transfer coefficient along the length of the partially filled rotating test section is reported. While heat transfer coefficient increases with the increase in wall heat flux, liquid volume flow rate and rotation rate, it decreases with increase in inclination angle. A generalised correlation to predict the average Nusselt number is developed in terms of four dimensionless numbers, viz., the flow Reynolds number to capture the effect of the axial fluid flow, rotation Reynolds number to account for the effect of pipe rotation, flow Froude number to take care of the effect of pipe inclination and dimensionless heat flux to incorporate the effect of wall heat flux on the heat transfer coefficient.