Calculation of laminar incompressible fluid flow and heat transfer during spherical annulus filling

A method of computing laminar incompressible fluid-flow and heat transfer during the filling of a spherical annulus is presented. Transient fluid temperatures and heat flux rates in the spherical annulus are calculated for an insulated outer sphere and a constant temperature inner sphere with heated water filling the annulus from the bottom. To achieve a solution, laminar axially symmetric flow is assumed and the Marker-and-Cell (MAC) free surface computational method is applied to this problem in spherical coordinates. Changes in the standard MAC treatment are incorporated and special methods for handling the free surface are introduced. A variable mesh is used to improve resolution near the inner sphere where temperature and velocity gradients are steep and the governing equations are derived for variable fluid properties to allow an eddy viscosity turbulence model to be applied later. Calculations of velocity, temperature, and inner sphere heat flux in a spherical annulus of 139.7 mm inner radius, and 168.3 mm outer radius within an inlet tube diameter of 38.1 mm are presented