On the Low Rayleigh Number Asymptote for Natural Convection Through an Isothermal, Parallel-Plate Channel

1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 899-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Martin ◽  
G. D. Raithby ◽  
M. M. Yovanovich

The problem of natural convection through a channel formed by isothermal, parallel plates forms a cornerstone of our understanding of a class of natural convection flows. Following the pioneering study of Elenbaas, it is widely accepted that there is a fully developed re´gime, at low Rayleigh number, in which the Nusselt number becomes directly proportional to the Rayleigh number. This paper gives a detailed analysis of heat transfer in this re´gime. It is concluded that the previous numerical studies, which appeared to confirm this asymptote, used inappropriate boundary conditions, and that the asymptotic behavior should, in fact, not be expected except under very special conditions.

Author(s):  
Serkan Kasapoglu ◽  
Ilker Tari

Three dimensional laminar natural convection flow of and heat transfer in incompressible air between two inclined parallel plates are analyzed with the Boussinesq approximation by using spectral methods. The plates are assumed to be infinitely long in streamwise (x) and spanwise (z) directions. For these directions, periodic boundary conditions are used and for the normal direction (y), constant wall temperature and no slip boundary conditions are used. Unsteady Navier-Stokes and energy equations are solved using a pseudospectral approach in order to obtain velocity and temperature fields inside the channel. Fourier series are used to expand the variables in × and z directions, while Chebyshev polynomials are used to expand the variables in y direction. By using the temperature distribution between the plates, local and average Nusselt numbers (Nu) are calculated. Nu values are correlated with φ, which is the inclination angle, and with Ra·cosφ to compare the results with the literature.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sattar Aljobair ◽  
Akeel Abdullah Mohammed ◽  
Israa Alesbe

Abstract The natural convection heat transfer and fluid flow characteristic of water based Al2O3 nano-fluids in a symmetrical and unsymmetrical corrugated annulus enclosure has been studied numerically using CFD. The inner cylinder is heated isothermally while the outer cylinder is kept constant cold temperature. The study includes eight models of corrugated annulus enclosure with constant aspect ratio of 1.5. The governing equations of fluid motion and heat transfer are solved using stream-vorticity formulation in curvilinear coordinates. The range of solid volume fractions of nanoparticles extends from PHI=0 to 0.25, and Rayleigh number varies from 104 to 107. Streamlines, isotherms, local and average Nusselt number of inner and outer cylinder has been investigated in this study. Sixty-four correlations have been deduced for the average Nusselt number for the inner and outer cylinders as a function of Rayleigh number have been deduced for eight models and five values of volume fraction of nano particles with an accuracy range 6-12 %. The results show that, the average heat transfer rate increases significantly as particle volume fraction and Rayleigh number increase. Also, increase the number of undulations in unsymmetrical annuli reduces the heat transfer rates which remain higher than that in symmetrical annuli. There is no remarkable change in isotherms contour with increase of volume fraction of nanofluid.


Author(s):  
M. Fayz-Al-Asad ◽  
M. J. H. Munshi ◽  
M.M.A. Sarker

The present study aims to analyze the natural convection flow and heat transfer in a wavy cavity with a single horizontal fin attached to its hot wall. Galerkin weighted residual finite element technique has been employed to solve the governing nonlinear dimensionless equations. The effects of model parameters like Rayleigh number, fin length and location on the fluid flow and heat transfer are investigated. The obtained results are exhibited graphically in terms of flow structure, temperature dispersion, velocity field, fin effectiveness, local Nusselt number, and average Nusselt number. It is observed that the different fin length and location have a substantial effect on flow structure and temperature field. Fin effectiveness is also studied and the highest fin effectiveness was found at fin length (L = 0.75). Besides, it is also found that the mean Nusselt number increases significantly with the increase of Rayleigh number and fin length. Wavy cavity becomes more effective on heat transfer behaviors and fluid flow than that of a square cavity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1634-1642
Author(s):  
Syed Fazuruddin ◽  
Seelam Sreekanth ◽  
G Sankara Sekhar Raju

An exhaustive numerical investigation is carried out to analyze the role of an isothermal heated thin fin on fluid flow and temperature distribution visualization in an enclosure. Natural convection within square enclosures finds remarkable pragmatic applications. In the present study, a finite difference approach is performed on two-dimensional laminar flow inside an enclosure with cold side walls and adiabatic horizontal walls. The fluid flow equations are reconstructed into vorticity - stream function formulation and these equations are employed utilizing the finite-difference strategy with incremental time steps. The parametric study includes a wide scope of Rayleigh number, Ra, and inclination angle ϴ of the thin fin. The effect of different Rayleigh numbers ranging Ra = 104-106 with Pr=0.71 for all the inclination angles from 0°-360° with uniform rotational length of angle 450 of an inclined heated fin on fluid flow and heat transfer have been investigated. The heat transfer rate within the enclosure is measured by means of local and average Nusselt numbers. Regardless of inclination angles of the thin fin, a slight enhancement in the average Nusselt number is observed when Rayleigh number increased for both the cases of the horizontal and vertical position of the thin fin. When the fin has inclined no change in average Nusselt number is noticed for distinct Rayleigh numbers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 2916-2941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taher Armaghani ◽  
A. Kasaeipoor ◽  
Mohsen Izadi ◽  
Ioan Pop

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to numerically study MHD natural convection and entropy generation of Al2O3-water alumina nanofluid inside of T-shaped baffled cavity which is subjected to a magnetic field. Design/methodology/approach Effect of various geometrical, fluid and flow factors such as aspect ratio of enclosure and baffle length, Rayleigh and Hartmann number of nanofluid have been considered in detail. The hydrodynamics and thermal indexes of nanofluid have been described using streamlines, isotherms and isentropic lines. Findings It is found that by enhancing Hartmann number, symmetrical streamlines gradually lose symmetry and their values decline. It is found that by enhancing Hartmann number, symmetrical streamlines gradually lose symmetry and their values decline. The interesting finding is an increase in the impact of Hartmann number on heat transfer indexes with augmenting Rayleigh number. However, with augmenting Rayleigh number and, thus, strengthening the buoyant forces, the efficacy of Hartmann number one, an index indicating the simultaneous impact of natural heat transfer to entropy generation increases. It is clearly seen that the efficacy of nanofluid on increased Nusselt number enhances with increasing aspect ratio of the enclosure. Based on the results, the Nusselt number generally enhances with the larger baffle length in the enclosure. Finally, with larger Hartmann number and lesser Nusselt one, entropy production is reduced. Originality/value The authors believe that all the results, both numerical and asymptotic, are original and have not been published elsewhere.


2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1317-1323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Chang Cho ◽  
Her-Terng Yau ◽  
Cha’o-Kuang Chen

This paper investigates the natural convection heat transfer enhancement of Al2O3-water nanofluid in a U-shaped cavity. In performing the analysis, the governing equations are modeled using the Boussinesq approximation and are solved numerically using the finite-volume numerical method. The study examines the effects of the nanoparticle volume fraction, the Rayleigh number and the geometry parameters on the mean Nusselt number. The results show that for all values of the Rayleigh number, the mean Nusselt number increases as the volume fraction of nanoparticles increases. In addition, it is shown that for a given length of the heated wall, extending the length of the cooled wall can improve the heat transfer performance.


1982 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 363-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Tanaka ◽  
H. Kawamura ◽  
A. Tateno ◽  
S. Hatamiya

A fully developed turbulent air flow between two parallel plates with the spacing of 15 mm was accelerated through a linearly converging passage of 200 mm in length, from which it flowed into a parallel-plate channel again. A foil heater was fastened on one wall surface over the entire channel, and local heat-transfer coefficient distribution was measured over the channel Reynolds number range of 5000 to 14,000 and also the slope of the accelerating section between 2/200 mm/mm and 10/200 mm/mm. (The acceleration parameter K ranged between 1.4 × 10−6 and 2 × 10−5.) The Nusselt number at the outlet of the accelerating section was considerably lower than in the initial fully turbulent state, suggesting laminarization of the flow. The measured Nusselt number continued to decrease in the first part of the downstream parallel-plate section to a minimum and then began to increase sharply, suggesting reversion to turbulent flow. Heat transfer along the parallel-converging-parallel plate system was reproduced fairly satisfactorily by applying a k-kL model of turbulence.


Author(s):  
Jong K. Lee ◽  
Seung D. Lee ◽  
Kune Y. Suh

During a severe accident, the reactor core may melt and be relocated to the lower plenum to form a hemispherical pool. If there is no effective cooling mechanism, the core debris may heat up and the molten pool run into natural convection. Natural convection heat transfer was examined in SIGMA RP (Simulant Internal Gravitated Material Apparatus Rectangular Pool). The SIGMA RP apparatus comprises a rectangular test section, heat exchanger, cartridge heaters, cooling jackets, thermocouples and a data acquisition system. The internal heater heating method was used to simulate uniform heat source which is related to the modified Rayleigh number Ra′. The test procedure started with water, the working fluid, filling in the test section. There were two boundary conditions: one dealt with both walls being cooled isothermally, while the other had to with only the upper wall being cooled isothermally. The heat exchanger was utilized to maintain the isothermal boundary condition. Four side walls were surrounded by the insulating material to minimize heat loss. Tests were carried out at 1011 < Ra′ < 1013. The SIGMA RP tests with an appropriate cartridge heater arrangement showed excellent uniform heat generation in the pool. The steady state was defined such that the temperature fluctuation stayed within ±0.2 K over a time period of 5,000 s. The conductive heat transfer was dominant below the critical Rayleigh number Ra′c, whereas the convective heat transfer picked up above Ra′c. In the top and bottom boundary cooling condition, the upward Nusselt number Nuup was greater than the downward Nusselt number Nudn. In particular, the discrepancy between Nuup and Nudn widened with Ra′. The Nuup to Nudn ratio was varied from 7.75 to 16.77 given 1.45×1012 < Ra′ < 9.59×1013. On the other hand, Nuup was increased in absence of downward heat transfer for the case of top cooling. The current rectangular pool testing will be extended to include circular and spherical pools.


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