Effect of the Heat Pipe Adiabatic Region

The main motivation of conducting this work is to present a rigorous analysis and investigation of the potential effect of the heat pipe adiabatic region on the flow and heat transfer performance of a heat pipe under varying evaporator and condenser conditions. A two-dimensional steady-state model for a cylindrical heat pipe coupling, for both regions, is presented, where the flow of the fluid in the porous structure is described by Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model which accounts for the boundary and inertial effects. The model is solved numerically by using the finite volumes method, and a fortran code was developed to solve the system of equations obtained. The results show that a phase change can occur in the adiabatic region due to temperature gradient created in the porous structure as the heat input increases and the heat pipe boundary conditions change. A recirculation zone may be created at the condenser end section. The effect of the heat transfer rate on the vapor radial velocities and the performance of the heat pipe are discussed.