Abstract:

The electric-heat method is the main cold-proof measure for polar ocean engineering equipment, with thermal balance being key to convective heat transfer. Taking an electric heading plate component as a research object, numerical simulations and model tests were carried out to analyze the influence of complex polar environmental factors on the thermal balance of electric heating of marine engineering equipment. Wind speed and temperature were considered as the main environmental parameters in this analysis; wind speed was varied over the range 0–40 m·s^–1 and temperature over the range −40–0 °C. Based on FLUENT software simulations and model tests, the convective heat transfer coefficients of the electrical heating plate component under different wind speeds and temperatures were obtained. The results showed that increasing wind speed and decreasing temperature could increase the convective heat transfer coefficient of the plate component. Temperature had little effect on the heat transfer of the plate when the wind speed was stable. In contrast, the convective heat transfer coefficient of the plate increased significantly with increasing wind speed at a given temperature. A mathematical prediction model for the convective heat transfer coefficient of the electrical heating plate component was established based on these experimental data, and the validity of the model was verified by numerical simulation.

Key words: polar region, flat plate member, convective heat transfer, experimental testing, numerical simulation