Past Research Projects:

• Water Heaters
• Windows

Relevant Publications:

Beckermann, C., and Goldschmidt, V.W., "Heat Transfer Augmentation in the Flueway of a Water Heater," ASHRAE Transactions, Vol. 92, pt. 2b, 1986, pp. 485-495.

Offhaus, C., Beckermann, C., and Goldschmidt, V.W., "Effect of Flueway Baffle Emissivity on the Performance of a Gas Fired Water Heater," ASHRAE Transactions, Vol. 95, pt. 1, 1989, pp. 281-283.

Smith, T.F., Beckermann, C., and Adams, C.C., "A Numerical Simulation Model to Study the Thermal Performance of Windows," ASHRAE Transactions: Symposia, DE-93-4-4, 1993, pp. 585-596.

Past Research Projects:

• Sedimentation of Spheres in a Vertical Column
• Two-Phase Flow and Heat Transfer in Porous Media
• Dual-Scale Volume Averaging

Relevant Publications:

Wang, C.Y., and Beckermann, C., "A Two-Phase Mixture Model of Liquid-Gas Flow and Heat Transfer in Capillary Porous Media, Part I: Model Formulation," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 36, 1993, pp. 2747-2758.

Wang, C.Y., and Beckermann, C., "A Two-Phase Mixture Model of Liquid-Gas Flow and Heat Transfer in Capillary Porous Media, Part II: Application to Pressure-Driven Boiling Flow Adjacent to a Vertical Heated Plate," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 36, 1993, pp. 2759-2768.

Wang, C.Y., and Beckermann, C., "Single- vs. Dual-Scale Volume Averaging for Heterogeneous Multiphase Systems," Int. J. Multiphase Flow, Vol. 19, 1993, pp. 397-407.

Wang, C.Y., Beckermann, C., and Fan, C., "A Numerical Study of Boiling and Natural Convection in Capillary Porous Media Using the Two-Phase Mixture Model," Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A, Vol. 26, 1994, pp. 375-398.

Wang, C.Y., Beckermann, C., and Fan, C., "Transient Natural Convection and Boiling in a Porous Layer Heated from Below," Heat Transfer 1994, Proceedings of the 10th International Heat Transfer Conference, ed. G.F. Hewitt, Vol. 5, 1994, pp. 411-416.

Wang, C.Y., and Beckermann, C., "Boundary Layer Analysis of Buoyancy-Driven Two-Phase Flow in Capillary Porous Media," ASME J. Heat Transfer, Vol. 117, 1995, pp. 1082-1087.

Sedimentation of Spheres in a Vertical Column

J. Ni and C. Beckermann

Sedimentation of solid spheres in a liquid is simulated using a two-phase model (see Ni and Beckermann, Metall. Trans., Vol.22B, June 1991, pp. 349-361). Initially, the rectangular cavity is occupied by a layer of spheres (about 20% volume fraction) in the upper 1/5th of the cavity. Then the spheres are allowed to settle in a gravitational field (no heat transfer). Noteworthy are the fingering seen in the left panel below and the formation of a sediment bed of packed spheres at the bottom at a later time (right panel). The colors indicate the volume fraction solid, with black being zero and red being the packing fraction (about 0.6 for a random packing).

Past Research Projects:

• Natural Convection in Enclosures containing a Porous Layer
• Melting and Solidification in Porous Media
• Convection in Anisotropic Porous Media
• Double-Diffusive Convection in Porous Media
• Two-Phase Flow and Heat Transfer in Porous Media

Relevant Publications

Beckermann, C., Viskanta, R., and Ramadhyani, S., "A Numerical Study of Non-Darcian Natural Convection in a Vertical Enclosure Filled with a Porous Medium, " Numerical Heat Transfer, Vol. 10, 1987, pp. 557-570.

Beckermann, C., and Viskanta, R., "Forced Convection Boundary Layer Flow and Heat Transfer Along a Flat Plate Embedded in a Porous Medium," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 30, 1987, pp. 1547-1551.

Beckermann, C., Ramadhyani, S., and Viskanta, R., "Natural Convection Flow and Heat Transfer Between a Fluid and a Porous Layer Inside a Rectangular Enclosure," ASME J. Heat Transfer, Vol. 109, pp. 363-370, 1987.

Beckermann, C., Viskanta, R., and Ramadhyani, S., "Natural Convection in Vertical Enclosures Containing Simultaneously Fluid and Porous Layers," J. Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 186, 1988, pp. 257-284.

Beckermann, C. and Viskanta, R., "Natural Convection Solid/Liquid Phase Change in Porous Media," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 31, 1988, pp. 35-46.

Ellinger, E.A., and Beckermann, C., "On the Effect of Porous Layers on Melting Heat Transfer in an Enclosure," Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, Vol. 4, 1991, pp. 619-629.

Ni, J., and Beckermann,C., "Natural Convection in a Vertical Enclosure Filled with Anisotropic Porous Media, ASME J. Heat Transfer, Vol. 113, 1991, pp. 1033-1037.

Beckermann, C., Fan, C., and Mihailovic, J., "Numerical Simulations of Double-Diffusive Convection in a Hele-Shaw Cell," Int. Video Journal of Engineering Research, Vol. 1, 1991, pp. 71-82.

Mihailovic, J., and Beckermann, C., "Development of a Two-Dimensional Liquid Species Concentration Measurement Technique Based on Absorptiometry," Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, Vol. 10, 1995, pp. 113-123.

Wang, C.Y., and Beckermann, C., "A Two-Phase Mixture Model of Liquid-Gas Flow and Heat Transfer in Capillary Porous Media, Part I: Model Formulation," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 36, 1993, pp. 2747-2758.

Wang, C.Y., and Beckermann, C., "A Two-Phase Mixture Model of Liquid-Gas Flow and Heat Transfer in Capillary Porous Media, Part II: Application to Pressure-Driven Boiling Flow Adjacent to a Vertical Heated Plate," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 36, 1993, pp. 2759-2768.

Wang, C.Y., and Beckermann, C., "Single- vs. Dual-Scale Volume Averaging for Heterogeneous Multiphase Systems," Int. J. Multiphase Flow, Vol. 19, 1993, pp. 397-407.

Wang, C.Y., Beckermann, C., and Fan, C., "A Numerical Study of Boiling and Natural Convection in Capillary Porous Media Using the Two-Phase Mixture Model," Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A, Vol. 26, 1994, pp. 375-398.

Wang, C.Y., Beckermann, C., and Fan, C., "Transient Natural Convection and Boiling in a Porous Layer Heated from Below," Heat Transfer 1994, Proceedings of the 10th International Heat Transfer Conference, ed. G.F. Hewitt, Vol. 5, 1994, pp. 411-416.

Wang, C.Y., and Beckermann, C., "Boundary Layer Analysis of Buoyancy-Driven Two-Phase Flow in Capillary Porous Media," ASME J. Heat Transfer, Vol. 117, 1995, pp. 1082-1087.

Double-Diffusive Convection in a Hele-Shaw Cell

C. Beckermann, C. Fan, and J. Mihailovic

A Hele-Shaw cell (two glass plates sandwiching a fluid layer of small depth) is used to investigate convection in porous media. The system consists initially of two stable fluid layers of different species concentrations, which are destabilized by heating and cooling of the left and right walls, respectively. Below is a comparison of experiments (left panels) and simulations (right panels) at three different times (from Int. Video Journal of Eng. Research, Vol.1, No.2, pg.71, 1991). The difficulty is to numerically resolve the sharp interface between the two fluid layers of different species concentrations (which is accomplished using the Flux-Corrected-Transport finite difference method).

Past Research Projects:

• Combined Radiation, Conduction, and Natural Convection in an Electronic Chassis
• Incorporation of Radiation
• Multi-Board Electronic Packages - Heat Transfer Simulation

Relevant Publications:

House, J.M., Beckermann, C., and Smith, T.F., "Effect of a Centered Conducting Body on Natural Convection Heat Transfer in an Enclosure," Numerical Heat Transfer, Vol. 18, 1990, pp. 213-226.

Smith, T.F., Beckermann, C., and Weber, S.W., "Coupled Conduction, Natural Convection, and Radiation in an Electronic Chassis," ASME J. Electronic Packaging, Vol. 113, 1991, pp. 382-391.

Beckermann, C., and Smith, T.F., "Incorporation of Internal Surface Radiant Exchange in the Finite Volume Method," Numerical Heat Transfer, Part B, Vol. 23, 1993, pp. 127-133.

Beckermann, C., Smith, T.F., and Pospichal, B., "Use of a Two-Dimensional Simulation Model in the Thermal Analysis of a Multi-Board Electronic Module," ASME J. Electronic Packaging, Vol. 116, 1994, pp. 126-133.