EDDIES: INTRODUCTION

Eddies are areas of swirling, still or upstream moving fluid. They are formed, for example in rivers when water comes up against an obstacle (most commonly rocks) and has to go around it. Such motion creates a void in the flow directly downstream. Fluid behind the obstacle now flows into this void creating a swirl. Eddies also occur in pipes or conduits where fluid is flowing under erratic or turbulent conditions. However the flow inside an eddy is laminar because of its size.

EDDIE VISCOSITY
Another important concept in eddies is that of eddy viscosity. Eddy viscosity refers to the internal friction generated within a fluid as laminar flow transforms to turbulent flow as the fluid passes over irregular solid obstacles. The transfer of momentum by the eddies gives rise to internal fluid friction; in a manner analogous to momentum transfer between fluid layers but on a much larger scale. Eddies are very efficient at transferring high-energy, high-momentum fluid from the high velocity parts of the fluid to the low velocity ones near or at the boundary layer. This energy transfer results in an apparent increase of viscosity of the fluid. Thus the existence of eddies acts as a deterrent to shear stress incurred at the boundary layer due to varying fluid velocities. It is also of note that in turbulent flow, there are local velocity gradients that counteract the main velocity gradient developed by the stress or pressure difference between pipe ends. This results in energy loss.

EDDY DIFFUSIVITY
Eddy diffusivity, also known as kinematic viscosity and momentum diffusivity, refers to the ratio of absolute viscosity () to density (). It refers to the spread of momentum between atoms or molecules of matter in a liquid state. For example, when a fluid flows past a solid surface, momentum diffuses across to the the boundary layer (the fluid layer in contact with the surface that has zero momentum due to the noslip condition) from the layer farthest from the solid wall (which has momentum proportional to the speed at which it is flowing). This rate of transport is governed by the viscosity of the fluid and the momentum gradient present.

PRANDTL NUMBER
Prandtl number is a dimensionless number that is a ratio of eddy diffusivity to thermal diffusivity.

Thermal diffusivity is the measure of the ability of a material to transfer heat by conduction to its surrounding compared to the ability of the substance to retain thermal energy. Materials with high thermal diffusivities require less time to attain equilibrium with their surroundings and vice versa.
Prandtl number can also be thought of as relating hydrodynamic (velocity) boundary layer to the thermal boundary layer. For air and many gases under standard conditions Prandtl number is less than 1 which means that the thermal boundary layer is thicker than the hydrodynamic boundary layer.

DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS IN CONVECTION

Convective heat transfer can be defined as the transport of heat within a fluid from one point to another through macroscopic motion of the fluids particle whereas as heat is carried as internal energy of the molecules.

The dimensionless numbers significant in convective heat transfer are:

> Rayleigh Number: > Grashof Number:

COLBURN ANALOGY
Colburn devised the J-factor which is involved in the observation of analogous conditions between heat and momentum transfer. The analogy between heat and momentum transfer is evolved by assuming that the diffusion of heat and momentum essentially occurs by the same mechanism so that a relatively simple relation must exist between the momentum and heat diffusion coefficients. Colburn defined J-factor for momentum as: Where f is the friction factor. Similarly, J-factor for heat transfer was assumed to be equal to J-factor for momentum transfer: Here h is the heat transfer coefficient, G is the mass velocity which velocity (V) multiplied by density () of the fluid.

COLBURN ANALOGY II
The previous equation can be written for viscous fluids as: Where b is the bulk viscosity while w is the fluid viscosity at the wall. This viscosity ratio factor can be neglected if calculations are done at mean temperatures or if a fluid is not of high enough viscosity (like water) and isnt prone to considerable variations in viscosity as the temperature changes.

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REYNOLDS ANALOGY
The relation between heat transfer can skin friction factor is expressed in terms of Stanton number and skin friction coefficient, whereas:

The heat transfer coefficient can be related to the skin friction coefficient by: This equation provides a useful estimate of h, based on knowing the skin friction or drag. This relation is also termed as Reynolds Analogy.

REYNOLDS ANALOGY II
Reynolds analogy is a relation between shear stress and heat transfer. It is very useful in obtaining a first approximation of heat transfer when sheer stress is known. A modified Reynolds analogy takes into account the fact that Prandtl number is not usually zero:

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