A Study on Correlation Between Pressure Variations and Augmentation of Heat Transfer in Acoustic Fields

The present paper investigated the correlation between the acoustic pressure variations and the augmentation of heat transfer in the ultrasonic induced acoustic fields. The augmentation ratios of heat transfer coefficient were experimentally measured and were compared with the profile of the pressure distribution in the acoustic fields predicted by numerical analysis. For numerical analysis, a coupled finite element-boundary element method (coupled FE-BEM) was applied. The results of the present study reveal that the acoustic pressure is higher near two ultrasonic transducers than other points where no ultrasonic transducer was installed. The augmentation trend of heat transfer is similar with the profile of the acoustic pressure distribution. In other words, as the acoustic pressure increases, the higher augmentation ratio of heat transfer is obtained. Numerical and experimental studies clearly show that the acoustic pressure variations are closely related to the augmentation of heat transfer in the acoustic fields.