Heat transfer and fluid flow of Biodiesel at a backward-Facing step

¹ Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables, CDER, 16340, Algiers, Algeria;
² Laboratory of Transport Phenomena, Faculty of Mechanical and Process Engineering, USTHB, B.P. 32, El-Alia Bab-Ezzouar, 16111, Algiers, Algeria ;

^* Corresponding author: Fax: +213 23189058 Email: f.danane@cder.dz, dananefetta@hotmail.com

Abstract

You should Three-dimensional simulation of a biodiesel fluid flow within a rectangular duct over a backward-facing step is investigated in the present paper. The fluid, which obeys to the Newtonian rheological behavior, is obtained by transformation of Algerian waste cooking oil into a biodiesel. Flow through a rectangular channel subjected to a constant wall temperature or constant heat flux as boundary conditions. The partial differential equations governing fluid flow and heat transfer are solved by the Fluent CFD computational code based on the Finite Volume Method. The numerical experiments are carried out to examine the effect of the Reynolds number by fluid inlet velocity variation for the two boundary conditions. The results are analyzed through the distribution of the temperature and the velocity contours. The variation of the Reynolds number and boundary conditions affects greatly the heat transfer and the fluid flow, in particular near the step region.