Experimental study of the effect of transverse oscillation on convection heat transfer from a circular cylinder

The present study is concerned with heat transfer characteristics of forced convective flows over a transversely oscillating cylinder. The effect of oscillation of the cylinder on heat transfer coefficient and flow pattern is evaluated by experimental measurement. A modified transient test method and a flow visualization technique are employed to determine the heat transfer coefficient and to observe the flow pattern, respectively, for various dimensionless oscillation frequencies (S-c), dimensionless oscillation amplitudes (A/D), and Reynolds numbers (Re). The ranges of these parameters considered in this study are 0 less than or equal to S-c less than or equal to 0.65, 0 less than or equal to A/D less than or equal to A/D less than or equal to 0.628, and 0 less than or equal to Re less than or equal to 4000. Results show that the heat transfer coefficient can be significantly increased by the oscillation of the cylinder. Two effects that enhance the heat transfer performance are found, namely, the lock-on effect and the turbulence effect. A maximum of 34 percent increase in heat transfer is found within the parameter ranges considered in this study. Agreement of the present data is found with previous numerical studies; however, an existing approximate method, which ignores the lock-on phenomenon but which is commonly used to estimate the effect of oscillation on heat transfer, is found to be inapplicable in this study.