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ISSN Online: 2377-424X

ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-421-2

International Heat Transfer Conference 15
August, 10-15, 2014, Kyoto, Japan

Correct Representation of Flow and Heat Transfer Fields

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC15.kn.000019
pages 350-369

Abstract

The correctness of methods used to visually represent numerically sampled heat transfer vector fields is considered from two perspectives, accuracy and the ability to correctly portray the properties of the fields. The sources of errors in commonly used algorithms are discussed and their effects illustrated for natural convection flows. In particular the algorithm most usually used in CFD visualisation packages is demonstrated to produce unrealistic visualisations, whereas algorithms that use interpolations derived from scalar and vector potentials do not. Methods of generating these potentials, via the Helmholtz theorem, are applied to conduction and convection heat fluxes together with the energy transport vector. The derivation of a simple method that obviates the need to explicitly apply heat flux boundary conditions during a post processing stage has the potential to encourage more widespread use of potential based methods. Examples show how vector fields with non-zero divergence can be visualised using these methods and some, such as the conduction heat flux field, provide new interpretive visualisations of heat transfer processes.