Convective heat transfer coefficients models for biomass cylindrical particles from low to high aspect ratio

This study investigates the heat transfer of co-firing biomass in coal-fired power station boilers, with a focus on practical application for realistic particle shapes. At present, there are no heat transfer or Nusselt number (Nu) correlations available for biomass particles of cylindrical shape such as straw particles. In this study, a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the heat transfer between cylindrical particles in a heated flow are performed with OpenFOAM-using a body-fitted mesh. The impact of the Reynolds number Re, aspect ratio AR, and angle of incidence θ in the range of (10 ≤ Re ≤ 2000, 1 ≤ AR ≤ 18, 0° ≤ θ ≤ 90°) on the Nusselt number are determined using a systematical analysis of the thermal flow characteristics for different particle temperature fields. The results show that the aerodynamics and geometrical factors of the cylindrical shape play a dominant role in the heat transfer. A model for the Nusselt number is proposed based on a curve fit of the simulation results, which has a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.2 × 10^-2 and an average relative error of 1.15 %. The independence test of the model has an average error of 5.1 %, indicating a high prediction accuracy. Compared to experimental and simulated data from the literature, the model demonstrates reasonable accuracy within its range of applicability, with a relative error of only 5.05 %. This study provides insights into the heat transfer of biomass particles with cylindrical shape and presents a new mathematical model for the Nusselt number, which can be used to improve the accuracy of the heat transfer prediction using point particle models.