Conjugate convective heat transfer

The contemporary conjugate convective heat transfer model was developed after computers came into wide use in order to substitute the empirical relation of proportionality of heat flux to temperature difference with heat transfer coefficient which was the only tool in theoretical heat convection since the times of Newton. This model, based on a strictly mathematically stated problem, describes the heat transfer between a body and a fluid flowing over or inside it as a result of the interaction of two objects. The physical processes and solutions of the governing equations are considered separately for each object in two subdomains. Matching conditions for these solutions at the interface provide the distributions of temperature and heat flux along the body–flow interface, eliminating the need for a heat transfer coefficient. Moreover, it may be calculated using these data. The contemporary conjugate convective heat transfer model was developed after computers came into wide use in order to substitute the empirical relation of proportionality of heat flux to temperature difference with heat transfer coefficient which was the only tool in theoretical heat convection since the times of Newton. This model, based on a strictly mathematically stated problem, describes the heat transfer between a body and a fluid flowing over or inside it as a result of the interaction of two objects. The physical processes and solutions of the governing equations are considered separately for each object in two subdomains. Matching conditions for these solutions at the interface provide the distributions of temperature and heat flux along the body–flow interface, eliminating the need for a heat transfer coefficient. Moreover, it may be calculated using these data. The term conjugate problem was coined by a group of scientists led by the academician A. V. Luikov in the former Soviet Union who, among others in the 1960s, began to investigate heat transfer as a coupled problem. At that time, many other researchers started to solve simple problems using different approaches and joining the solutions for body and fluid on their interface. A review of early conjugate solutions may be found in the book by Dorfman.