Author(s)

Y. Weiss, M. Szanto, I. Shai & G. Ben-Dor

Abstract

In the present work we focus our attention on the inlet region of the thermosyphon tube, closed at the bottom and open at the top to a cold reservoir. It will be shown that the inlet flow characteristics play an important role, in the ability of the device to remove heat from the tube walls. A numerical simulation of the complete flow field, under turbulent conditions, was conducted using the finite element method. Verification of the simulated flow field was obtained by visualization experiments in a scaled apparatus. It was found that under certain conditions the cold fluid from the reservoir does not penetrate into the tube's core. Actually an enhanced mixing heat transfer process takes place at the boundary between the tube and the reservoir, caus

Keywords