Natural Convective Heat Transfer From an Inclined Narrow Isothermal Flat Plate

Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
Abdulrahim Kalendar

Natural convective heat transfer rate from an isothermal flat plate inclined at moderate angles to the vertical has been numerically studied. When the plate is wide compared to its height the flow can be adequately modeled by assuming two-dimensional flow. However, when the width of the plate is relatively small compared to its height, the heat transfer rate can be considerably greater than that predicted by these two-dimensional flow results. The heat transfer from a narrow isothermal plate embedded in a plane adiabatic surface, the adiabatic surface being in the same plane as the heated plate and inclined at an angle to the vertical has been numerically considered. Results for both positive and negative inclination angles have been numerically determined here. Attention was restricted to results for a Prandtl number of 0.7; this being approximately the value existing in the application that originally motivated this study. It has been assumed that the fluid properties are constant except for the density change with temperature which gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this having been treated by using the Boussinesq approach. It has also been assumed that the flow is symmetrical about the vertical centre-plane of the plate. The solution has been obtained by numerically solving the full three-dimensional form of the governing equations, these equations being written in dimensionless form. The solution was obtained using a commercial finite element method based code, FIDAP. The solution has the Rayleigh number, the dimensionless plate width, the angle of inclination, and the Prandtl number as parameters. Results have been obtained for Rayleigh numbers between 103 and 107 for ratios of the plate width to the plate height of between 0.3 and 1.5 and for angles of inclination between +45° and −45°.

Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
David Naylor

The horizontal frame members that often protrude from the inner surface of a window can significantly effect the convective heat transfer rate from this inner surface to the room. The purpose of the present numerical study was to determine how the size of a pair of horizontal frame members effect this heat transfer rate. The flow has been assumed to be steady and conditions under which laminar, transitional, and turbulent flows occur are considered. Fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature that gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this being dealt with using the Boussinesq approach. The governing equations have been solved using the FLUENT commercial CFD code. The k-epsilon turbulence model with standard wall functions and with buoyancy force effects fully accounted for has been used. The solution has the following parameters: the Rayleigh number, the Prandtl number, the dimensionless window recess depth, and the dimensionless width and depth of the frame members. Results have been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
D. Naylor

The vertical and horizontal frame members that often protrude from the inner surface of a window can, in some situations, have a significant effect on the convective heat transfer rate from the inner (room-side) surface of the window to the room. The purpose of the present numerical study was to determine, in a basic way, how the relative size of a single horizontal frame member mounted in the center of the window affects this convective heat transfer rate. A recessed window has been considered. The flow has been assumed to be steady and both laminar and turbulent flows have been considered. Fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature that gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this being dealt with using the Boussinesq approach. The governing equations have been solved using the FLUENT commercial cfd code. The k-epsilon turbulence model with standard wall functions and with buoyancy force effects fully accounted for has been used in the calculations. The solution has the following parameters: the Rayleigh number, the Prandtl number, the dimensionless horizontal distance between the inner window surface and the inner surface of the wall in which the window is mounted (the dimensionless recess depth), and the dimensionless width and depth of the frame member. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74, which is effectively the value for air, and for single values of the dimensionless window recess depth and of the dimensionless frame height. The effects of the other dimensionless variables on the window Nusselt number have been numerically studied.


Author(s):  
Dennis Siginer ◽  
Lyes Khezzar

Steady two-dimensional natural convection in rectangular two dimensional cavities filled with non-Newtonian power law-Boussinesq fluids is numerically investigated. The conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy are solved using the finite volume method for varying inclination angles between 0° and 90° and two cavity height based Rayleigh numbers, Ra = 104 and 105, a Prandtl number of Pr = 102 and two cavity aspect ratios of 1, 4. For the vertical inclination of 90°, computations were performed for two Rayleigh numbers Ra = 104 and 105 and three Prandtl numbers of Pr = 102, 103 and 104. In all of the numerical experiments, the channel is heated from below and cooled from the top with insulated side-walls and the inclination angle is varied. A comprehensive comparison between the Newtonian and the non-Newtonian cases is presented based on the dependence of the average Nusselt number Nu on the angle of inclination together with the Rayleigh number, Prandtl number, power law index n and aspect ratio dependent flow configurations which undergo several exchange of stability as the angle of inclination O̸ is gradually increased from the horizontal resulting in a rather sudden drop in the heat transfer rate triggered by the last loss of stability and transition to a single cell configuration. Despite significant differences in the heat transfer rate and flow configurations both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids of the power law type exhibit qualitatively similar behavior.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
Abdulrahim Kalendar

Natural convective heat transfer from the top and bottom surfaces of a thin circular isothermal horizontal plate which, in general, has a centrally placed adiabatic section has been numerically investigated. The temperature of the plate surfaces is higher than the temperature of the surrounding fluid. The range of conditions considered is such that laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow occurs over the plate. The heat transfer from the upper and lower surfaces of the plate as well as the mean heat transfer rate from the entire surface of the plate have been considered. The flow has been assumed to be axisymmetric and steady. The k-epsilon turbulence model with account being taken of buoyancy force effects has been used and the solution has been obtained using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT©. The heat transfer rate from the heated plate has been expressed in terms of a Nusselt number based on the outside plate diameter and the difference between the plate temperature and the fluid temperature far from the plate. The mean Nusselt number is dependent on the Rayleigh number, the ratio of the diameter of the inner adiabatic section to the outer plate diameter, and the Prandtl number. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74, i.e., effectively the value for air. The variations of the mean Nusselt number averaged over both the upper and lower surfaces and of the mean Nusselt numbers for the upper surface and for the lower surface with Rayleigh number for various adiabatic section diameter ratios have been studied. The use of a reference length scale to allow the correlation of these mean Nusselt number-Rayleigh number variations has been investigated.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulrahim Kalendar ◽  
Ahmed Kalendar ◽  
Sayed Karar ◽  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

Natural convective flow over narrow plates induces an inward flow near the edges of the plate causing the flow to be three-dimensional near the edges of the plate. This influences the heat transfer rate near the edges of the plate and is referred to as the edge effect. The primary objective of this paper is to numerically study this edge effect and the interaction of the flows over two inclined vertically separated narrow heated plates of the same size embedded in a plane adiabatic surface. The cases where the plates and surrounding adiabatic surface are inclined at positive or negative angles to the vertical have been considered. Results were obtained by numerically solving the full three-dimensional form of governing equations using the commercial finite volume based software Fluent©. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.7; this being the value existing in the application which involved airflow that originally motivated this study. The results presented here cover Rayleigh numbers between 103 and 107, at all values of W considered, plate width-to-height ratios between 0.2 and 1.2, gap, at all values of W considered, to the plate height ratios of between 0 and 1.5, and, at all values of W considered, angles of inclination of between −45 deg and +45 deg. The effects of the Rayleigh number, dimensionless plate width, dimensionless gap between plates, and inclination angle on the heat transfer rate have been studied in detail. Empirical correlations defining the effect of these parameters on the heat transfer rate have been derived.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

In summer when the air-conditioning system is in use cool air from a floor-mounted vent located beneath a window often flows over the warm window. The presence of a blind system over the window will, in general, influence the effect of the vent flow on the convective heat transfer rate from the window. The effect of a Top-Down, Bottom-Up plane blind system and a cool air vent flow on the heat transfer rate from a recessed window has therefore been numerically studied here. The actual situation considered in this study is an approximate model of real situations. The window is represented by a plane isothermal section recessed into the wall, this window section being hotter than the room air far from the window. The floor-mounted vent is assumed to be located against the wall and to have a uniform discharge velocity which is normal to the vent surface. The flow has been assumed to be two-dimensional, i.e., the effect of the window and vent width has not been considered. The flow has been assumed to be steady and situations involving both laminar and turbulent flow have been considered. The fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature that gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this being dealt with using the Boussinesq approach. The governing equations have been solved using the commercial CFD code ANSYS FLUENT©, the k-epsilon turbulence model having been used. The solution has the following parameters: the Rayleigh number, the Reynolds number based on the vent discharge velocity, the dimensionless depth that the window is recessed, the Prandtl number, the dimensionless top and bottom blind opening, the dimensionless size of the air vent, and the dimensionless vent discharge temperature to undisturbed air temperature difference. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74 and for fixed values of the dimensionless depth that the window is recessed, the dimensionless size of the air vent, and the dimensionless vent discharge temperature difference. The effects of the other dimensionless variables on the window Nusselt number have been numerically studied.


Author(s):  
Abdulrahim Kalendar ◽  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
Bader Kalandar

Natural convective heat transfer from a two narrow adjacent rectangular isothermal flat plates of the same size embedded in a plane adiabatic surface, the adiabatic surface being in the same plane as the surfaces of the heated plates, has been numerically investigated. The two plates have the same surface temperature and they are aligned with each other but are separated form each other by a relatively small gap. Results for the case where the plates are vertical and where they are inclined at positive or negative angles to the vertical have been obtained. It has been assumed that the fluid properties are constant except for the density change with temperature which gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this having been treated using the Boussinesq approach. It has also been assumed that the flow is symmetrical about the vertical center plane between the two plates. The solution has been obtained by numerically solving the full three-dimensional form of governing equations, these equations being written in dimensionless form. The solution was obtained using the commercial finite volume method based cfd code, FLUENT. The solution has the Rayleigh number, the dimensionless plate width, the angle of inclination, the dimensionless gap between two flat plates, and the Prandtl number as parameters. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.7 Results have been obtained for Rayleigh numbers between 103 and 107 for plate width-to-height ratios of between 0.15 and 0.6, for gap between the adjacent edges to plate height ratios of between 0 and 0.2, for angles of inclination between +45° and −45°.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
Matt Garrett

Abstract Natural convective heat transfer from a wide isothermal plate which has a “wavy” surface, i.e., has a surface which periodically rises and falls, has been numerically studied. The surface waves run parallel to the direction of flow over the surface and have a relatively small amplitude. Two types of wavy surface have been considered here — saw-tooth and sinusoidal. Surfaces of the type considered are approximate models of situations that occur in certain window covering applications, for example, and are also sometimes used to try to enhance the heat transfer rate from the surface. The flow has been assumed to be laminar. Because the surface waves are parallel to the direction of flow, the flow over the surface will be three-dimensional. Fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature that gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this being treated by means of the Boussinesq type approximation. The governing equations have been written in dimensionless form, the height of the surface being used as the characteristic length scale and the temperature difference between the surface temperature and the temperature of the fluid far from the plate being used as the characteristic temperature. The dimensionless equations have been solved using a finite-element method. Although the flow is three-dimensional because the surface waves are all assumed to have the same shape, the flow over each surface thus being the same, and it was only necessary to solve for the flow over one of the surface waves. The solution has the following parameters: the Grashof number based on the height, the Prandtl number, the dimensionless amplitude of the surface waviness, the dimensionless pitch of the surface waviness, and the form of the surface waviness (saw-tooth or sinusoidal). Results have been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.7 for Grashof numbers up to 106. The effects of Grashof number, dimensionless amplitude and dimensionless pitch on the mean heat transfer rate have been studied. It is convenient to introduce two mean heat transfer rates, one based on the total surface area and the other based on the projected frontal area of the surface. A comparison of the values of these quantities gives a measure of the effectiveness of the surface waviness in increasing the mean heat transfer rate. The results show that while surface waviness increases the heat transfer rate based on the frontal area, the modifications of the flow produced by the surface waves are such that the increase in heat transfer rate is less than the increase in surface area.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
J. T. Paul

Top Down – Bottom Up blinds have become quite popular in recent times. However the effects of such blind systems on the convective heat transfer from the window to the surrounding room have not been extensively studied and the effect of solar irradiation of the blind on the window heat transfer has not received significant attention. The purpose of the present work was therefore to numerically investigate the effect of solar irradiation of Top Down – Bottom Up slatted blinds on this convective heat transfer. An approximate model of the window-blind system has been adopted. The solar radiation falling on the blinds is assumed to produce a uniform rate of heat generation in the blind. The Boussinesq approximation has been used. Radiant heat transfer effects have been neglected. Conditions under which laminar, transitional and turbulent flows occur have been considered. The main emphasis is on the effect of the magnitude of the irradiation and of the size of the blind openings at the top and bottom of the window on the convective heat transfer rate from the window to the room.


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