Choked flow and heat transfer of low density gas in a narrow parallel-plate channel with uniformly heating walls

The discharge and heat transfer characteristics of the continuum and slip choked gas flows through a narrow parallel-plate channel with uniform heat flux walls are studied by experimental means, numerical simulation, and analytical approximate solution. The numerical results of the discharge coefficient and the wall surface temperature distributions agree relatively well with the experimental results. The effects of the heat transfer at the walls on the discharge coefficient can be correlated with the dimensionless heat input at the walls. Three kinds of Nusselt numbers which are defined by adiabatic wall, bulk mean, and total temperatures as a reference temperature, respectively, are proposed and the effects of the viscous heating on these Nusselt numbers are clarified. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.