On the Transfer of Heat Generated by Energy Dissipation (Head Loss) to
the Walls of Glacial Conduits: Revised Heat Transfer Coefficients
Abstract
The most general models for glacial hydrologic conduits include an
energy equation, wherein a heat transfer coefficient controls the rate
at which heat generated by mechanical energy dissipation is transferred
to conduit walls, producing melt. Previous models employ heat transfer
coefficients derived for engineering heat transfer problems, where heat
is transferred between the walls of a conduit and a flowing fluid that
enters the duct at a temperature different from the wall temperature.
These heat transfer coefficients may not be appropriate for glacial
hydrologic conduits in temperate ice, where the flowing fluid (water)
and conduit walls (ice) are at almost the same temperature, and the heat
generated by mechanical energy dissipation within the flow is
transferred to the walls to produce melt. We revisit the energy
transport equations that provide a basis for the derivation of heat
transfer coefficients and highlight the distinctions between the heated
walls and dissipated energy heat transfer cases. We present
computational results for both cases across a range of Reynolds numbers
in circular conduit and sheet geometries. For the heated walls case, our
results are consistent with the widely used Dittus-Boelter heat transfer
correlation, which has been used in previous glacial conduit models. We
show that the heat transfer coefficient for transfer of heat generated
by mechanical energy dissipation to conduit walls is smaller than that
calculated using the Dittus-Boelter correlation by approximately a
factor of 2.