Pressure drop and heat transfer in turbulent ice-water slurries in horizontal pipes

The purpose of this research was to experimentally determine the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of ice-water slurries flowing in pipes. This information is essential for designing ice-water slurry based district cooling systems. An experimental facility was designed and constructed for this study. The apparatus consists of an ice-water slurry generation system, an ice-water slurry distribution system, an instrumented test section, and a computer controlled data acquisition system.;The pressure drop results demonstrate a reduction in friction associated with ice-water slurries which accompanies a re-laminarization of a turbulent flow as solids loading increases. The friction factor reduction reaches a minimum at approximately 4% ice fraction. The friction reduction behavior has been correlated as a constant multiplier to be used with the existing friction factor correlation of Knudsen-Katz. The heat transfer coefficient also decreases with increased ice fraction consistent with the re-laminarization of the flow. The Nusselt number reduction reaches a minimum at approximately 4% ice fraction. The heat transfer reduction behavior has been correlated as a constant multiplier to be used with the existing Nusselt number correlation of Petukhov.