Solid−fluid heat-transfer coefficients have an important role in the design of chemical processing equipment.
The major resistance to heat transfer lies in a region very close to the wall, where experimental measurements
are very difficult. The validity and accuracy of the models developed for the estimation of the heat- and
mass-transfer coefficient still do not have general applicability for the entire range of Reynolds and Prandtl
numbers, because of the limited knowledge of near-wall turbulence. There have been two approaches for
such model development: one is an analytical approach, which considers the momentum, mass, and heat
transfer to be analogous in nature and the understanding of one of these processes can be used to predict the
other two; the other approach is heuristic, based on the visualization of the behavior of the coherent structures
in the near-wall region. The continuous movement of fluid elements to and away from the wall (coherent
structures) affects the transport phenomena. The models for the quantification of this behavior have been
developed for the estimation of heat- and mass-transfer rates in the literature. However, both these approaches
contain parameters fitted empirically to obtain good agreement with the experimental heat- and mass-transfer
data. These models must be tested for their formulation and empirical constants on the basis of accurate
solutions of governing equations of heat, mass, and momentum transfer. This is possible using direct numerical
simulation (DNS) and large eddy simulation (LES), which can accurately predict the near-wall flow pattern.
An attempt has been made to exploit the ability of DNS and LES to develop insight into hitherto used models,
based on analogies and/or heuristic arguments.