Experimental determination of heat transfer coefficient in the slip regime and its anomalously low value

Abstract

In this paper, the measurement of the heat transfer coefficient in rarefied gases is presented; these are among the first heat transfer measurements in the slip flow regime. The experimental setup is validated by comparing friction factor in the slip regime and heat transfer coefficient in the continuum regime. Experimental results suggest that the Nusselt number is a function of Reynolds and Knudsen numbers in the slip flow regime. The measured values for Nusselt numbers are smaller than that predicted by theoretical or simulation results, and can become a few orders of magnitude smaller than the theoretical values in the continuum regime. The results are repeatable and expected to be useful for further experimentation and modeling of flow in the slip and transition regimes.