A Numerical Solution for Natural Convection in Cylindrical Annuli

1971 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Powe ◽  
C. T. Carley ◽  
S. L. Carruth

The results of a finite-difference solution for natural convection within horizontal cylindrical annuli for Prandtl numbers near 0.7 (air) are presented. The ranges of Rayleigh number and inverse relative gap width over which such a solution yields valid results are investigated. It is shown that this solution, though formulated for steady flow, can be used to obtain an indication of the Rayleigh number at which transition from a steady to an unsteady flow will occur for a wide range of inverse relative gap widths (2.8–12.5). A recent experimental investigation has shown that steady secondary cellular flows occur immediately prior to transition for this range of inverse relative gap widths, and the Rayleigh number at which these secondary flows occur is accurately predicted by the numerical solution, thereby yielding a good indication of the Rayleigh number at which transition to an unsteady flow occurs. Flow patterns predicted by the numerical solution near transition are compared with photographs of the flow, and excellent qualitative agreement is noted. It is thus shown that this numerical technique gives, at least qualitatively, valid results for all Rayleigh numbers at which the flow is steady for the range of inverse relative gap widths under consideration. Heretofore unavailable data on temperature profiles, radial and angular velocity components, and local Nusselt numbers for Rayleigh numbers near the transition value are presented. It is found that the foregoing parameters (velocity, temperature, and Nusselt number) are little affected by the appearance of the secondary flow for the smaller inverse relative gap widths considered, whereas for the larger inverse relative gap widths a pronounced increase in magnitude of temperatures and velocity components is noted. The overall or mean Nusselt number is not affected by the appearance of these secondary flows for any of the inverse relative gap widths considered.

Author(s):  
G. A. Sheikhzadeh ◽  
M. Pirmohammadi ◽  
M. Ghassemi

Numerical study natural convection heat transfer inside a differentially heated square cavity with adiabatic horizontal walls and vertical isothermal walls is investigated. Two perfectly conductive thin fins are attached to the isothermal walls. To solve the governing differential mass, momentum and energy equations a finite volume code based on Pantenkar’s simpler method is developed and utilized. The results are presented in form of streamlines, isotherms as well as Nusselt number for Rayleigh number ranging from 104 up to 107. It is shown that the mean Nusselt number is affected by the position of the fins and length of the fins as well as the Rayleigh number. It is also observed that maximum Nusselt number occurs about the middle of the enclosure where Lf is grater the 0.5. In addition the Nusselt number stays constant and does not varies with width of the cavity (lf) when Lf is equal to 0.5 and Rayleigh number is equal to 104 and 107 as well as when Lf is equal to 0.6 and low Rayleigh numbers.


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.


1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 649-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. W. Webb ◽  
D. P. Hill

Experiments have been performed to determine local heat transfer data for the natural convective flow of air between vertical parallel plates heated asymmetrically. A uniform heat flux was imposed along one heated wall, with the opposing wall of the channel being thermally insulated. Local temperature data along both walls were collected for a wide range of heating rates and channel wall spacings corresponding to the high modified Rayleigh number natural convection regime. Laminar flow prevailed in all experiments. Correlations are presented for the local Nusselt number as a function of local Grashof number along the channel. The dependence of both average Nusselt number and the maximum heated wall temperature on the modified Rayleigh number is also explored. Results are compared to previous analytical and experimental work with good agreement.


1999 ◽  
Vol 381 ◽  
pp. 27-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK P. DYKO ◽  
KAMBIZ VAFAI ◽  
A. KADER MOJTABI

A numerical and experimental study of buoyancy-driven flow in the annulus between two horizontal coaxial cylinders at Rayleigh numbers approaching and exceeding the critical values is presented. The stability of the flow is investigated using linear theory and the energy method. Theoretical predictions of the critical Rayleigh number for onset of secondary flows are obtained for a wide range of radius ratio R and are verified by comparison with results of previous experimental studies. A subcritical Rayleigh number which provides a necessary condition for global flow stability is also determined. The three-dimensional transient equations of fluid flow and heat transfer are solved to study the manifestation of instabilities within annuli having impermeable endwalls, which are encountered in various applications. For the first time, a thorough examination of the development of spiral vortex secondary flow within a moderate gap annulus and its interaction with the primary flow is performed for air. Simulations are conducted to investigate factors influencing the size and number of post-transitional vortex cells. The evolution of stable three-dimensional flow and temperature fields with increasing Rayleigh number in a large gap annulus is also studied. The distinct flow structures which coexist in the large gap annulus at high Rayleigh numbers preceding transition to oscillatory flow, including transverse vortices at the end walls which have not been previously identified, are established numerically and experimentally. The solutions for the large-gap annulus are compared to those for the moderate-gap case to clarify fundamental differences in behaviour. Heat transfer results in the form of local Nusselt number distributions are presented for both the moderate- and large-gap cases. Results from a series of experiments performed with air to obtain data for validation of the numerical scheme and further information on the flow stability are presented. Additionally, the change from a crescent-shaped flow pattern to a unicellular pattern with centre of rotation at the top of the annulus is investigated numerically and experimentally for a Prandtl number of 100. Excellent agreement between the numerical and experimental results is shown for both Prandtl numbers studied. The present work provides, for the first time, quantitative three-dimensional descriptions of spiral convection within a moderate-gap annulus containing air, flow structures preceding oscillation in a large-gap annulus for air, and unicellular flow development in a large-gap annulus for large Prandtl number fluids.


2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A/K Abu-Hijleh

The problem of laminar natural convection heat transfer from a horizontal cylinder with multiple, equally spaced, low conductivity baffles on its outer surface was investigated numerically. The effect of several combinations of number of baffles and baffle height on the average Nusselt number was studied over a wide range of Rayleigh numbers. The computed velocity and temperature fields were also used to calculate the local and global entropy generation for different cylinder diameters. The results showed that there was an optimal combination of a number of baffles and baffle height for minimum Nusselt number for a given value of the Rayleigh number. Short baffles slightly increased the Nusselt number at small values of the Rayleigh number. The global entropy generation increased monotonically with increasing Rayleigh number and decreased with increasing cylinder diameter, baffle height, and number of baffles. [S0022-1481(00)01203-2]


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wakitani

Consideration is given to the multiple solutions of two-dimensional natural convection in a vertical air-filled tall cavity with differentially heated sidewalls. Numerical simulations are carried out for a wide range of Rayleigh numbers from the onset of the steady multicellular flow, through the reverse transition to the unicellular pattern, to the unsteady multicellular flow. The dependence of the flow structure on the initial condition is clarified from the simulations by means of starting from a motionless and isothermal state, and gradually increasing or decreasing the Rayleigh number.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2788
Author(s):  
Hyun-Sik Yoon ◽  
Yoo-Jeong Shim

The present study investigated the natural convection for a hot circular cylinder embedded in a cold square enclosure. The numerical simulations are performed to solve a two-dimensional steady natural convection for three Rayleigh numbers of 103, 104 and 105 at a fixed Prandtl number of 0.7. This study considered the wide range of the inner cylinder positions to identify the eccentric effect of the cylinder on flow and thermal structures. The present study classifies the flow structures according to the cylinder position. Finally, the present study provides the map for the flow structures at each Rayleigh number (Ra). The Ra = 103 and 104 form the four modes of the flow structures. These modes are classified by mainly the large circulation and inner vortices. When Ra = 105, one mode that existed at Ra = 103 and 104, disappears in the map of the flow structures. The new three modes appear, resulting in total six modes of flow structures at Ra = 105. New modes at Ra = 105 are characterized by the top side secondary vortices. The corresponding isotherms are presented to explain the bifurcation of the flow structure.


Author(s):  
Salaika Parvin ◽  
Nepal Chandra Roy ◽  
Litan Kumar Saha ◽  
Sadia Siddiqa

A numerical study is performed to investigate nanofluids' flow field and heat transfer characteristics between the domain bounded by a square and a wavy cylinder. The left and right walls of the cavity are at constant low temperature while its other adjacent walls are insulated. The convective phenomena take place due to the higher temperature of the inner corrugated surface. Super elliptic functions are used to transform the governing equations of the classical rectangular enclosure into a system of equations valid for concentric cylinders. The resulting equations are solved iteratively with the implicit finite difference method. Parametric results are presented in terms of streamlines, isotherms, local and average Nusselt numbers for a wide range of scaled parameters such as nanoparticles concentration, Rayleigh number, and aspect ratio. Several correlations have been deduced at the inner and outer surface of the cylinders for the average Nusselt number, which gives a good agreement when compared against the numerical results. The strength of the streamlines increases significantly due to an increase in the aspect ratio of the inner cylinder and the Rayleigh number. As the concentration of nanoparticles increases, the average Nusselt number at the internal and external cylinders becomes stronger. In addition, the average Nusselt number for the entire Rayleigh number range gets enhanced when plotted against the volume fraction of the nanofluid.


Author(s):  
Degan Gerard ◽  
Sokpoli Amavi Ernest ◽  
Akowanou Djidjoho Christian ◽  
Vodounnou Edmond Claude

This research was devoted to the analytical study of heat transfer by natural convection in a vertical cavity, confining a porous medium, and containing a heat source. The porous medium is hydrodynamically anisotropic in permeability whose axes of permeability tensor are obliquely oriented relative to the gravitational vector and saturated with a Newtonian fluid. The side walls are cooled to the temperature  and the horizontal walls are kept adiabatic. An analytical solution to this problem is found for low Rayleigh numbers by writing the solutions of mathematical model in polynomial form of degree n of the Rayleigh number. Poisson equations obtained are solved by the modified Galerkin method. The results are presented in term of streamlines and isotherms. The distribution of the streamlines and the temperature fields are greatly influenced by the permeability anisotropy parameters and the thermal conductivity. The heat transfer decreases considerably when the Rayleigh number increases.


1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (8) ◽  
pp. 382-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Van Der Borght

The numerical solution of the basic equations for non-linear steady convection in the weak-coupling approximation is exceedingly difficult. In astronomical applications the Rayleigh number R will be of the order of1012, and we wish to report here some results obtained in the case of high Rayleigh numbers with the use of an asymptotic method.


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