Free convective heat transfer and criterion of onset of free convection in a horizontal melt layer of ice heated by upper rigid surface

An experimental and analytical investigation pertaining to the effect of density inversion of water on the free convective heat transfer and the onset of free convection in a horizontal melt layer of ice heated by upper rigid surface is carried out. Temperatures of the upper surface are varied from 1°C to 15°C, with Rayleigh number ranging from 2 × 10² to 1 × 10⁵. From the present study, it can be demonstrated both experimentally and analytically that the density inversion of water plays an influential role in such a melt layer and the onset of free convection and the free convective heat transfer are considerably affected by the temperature of upper rigid surface T₂, in the case of T₂ ≤ 8° C, unlike the results obtained for common fluids without density inversion.     

Mixed Convection in Water Near the Density Extremum Along a Vertical Plate with Sinusoidal Surface Temperature Variation Embedded in a Porous Medium

A steady laminar boundary layer flowing along a vertical plate immersed in a Darcy–Brinkman porous medium saturated with water at 4°C is studied. The plate temperature varies sinusoidally along the plate between 0 and 8°C where the density of water varies parabolically and is almost symmetrical at about 4°C. Except for the existence of the buoyancy force, it is assumed that either the plate moves upwards or the ambient water moves upwards (moving stream). The results are obtained with the direct numerical solution of the boundary layer equations taking into account the temperature dependence of water thermophysical properties (ρ, μ and c _p). Results are presented for the wall temperature gradient and the wall shear stress along the plate for free convection and mixed convection. Temperature and velocity profiles are also presented.     

Laminar axisymmetric pure and saline water plumes

 In most studies concerning round laminar plumes in a uniform environment a linear relationship between fluid density and temperature has been used. However it is known that the density-temperature relationship for water is non-linear at low temperatures. In this study the problem of round laminar plume of pure and saline water has been investigated in the temperature range between 20 °C and 0 °C taking into account the nonlinearity between density and temperature. The results are obtained with the numerical solution of the boundary layer equations. It was found that the plume behavior is dependent on ambient temperature and the centerline axial velocity at maximum density temperature is approximately 10% lower than the corresponding value based on linear relation between density and temperature. Received on 22 November 1999     

Investigation of double-diffusive convection during the solidification of a binary mixture (NH4Cl–H2O) in a trapezoidal cavity

The solidification of binary mixture (NH₄Cl–H₂O) inside a trapezoidal cavity is investigated experimentally in this study. The effect of the initial concentration of ammonium chloride (0–19.8%) and boundary temperatures (−30 to 0°C) on the solidification process was investigated. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique was used for the visualization of the dynamic field in the melt. Thirty-two thermocouples were used to monitor the temperature distribution inside the cavity and on the cooling walls. The convective flow field, the temperature distribution, the frozen layer thickness and the moving solid/liquid interface were obtained for different initial concentrations of ammonium chloride and various boundary temperatures. The results obtained in the course of this study reveal that: (1) the process of solidification is slower with an increase in initial concentration levels of the binary solution: as the concentration increases, the time needed to get the same thickness of frozen layer increases; (2) an increase in the initial concentration of ammonium chloride solution reduce significantly the temperature in the melt; and (3) the initial concentration play a significant role in the evolution of convection flow patterns.     

Influence of Density Inversion on Thawing Around a Cylinder in a Frozen Saturated Porous Medium

An analytical study is made of the convective flow field produced when a warm cylinder maintained at a fixed temperature above freezing is buried in saturated frozen porous medium. The flow field is shown to have a double cell pattern due to the density inversion of water at ~ 4°C, with downward convection of heat dominating at cylinder temperatures of below ~ 10°C and upward heat convection dominating at temperatures greater than this. The analysis uses a perturbation technique to determine the first-order convective correction to the flow and temperature fields around the cylinder for a quasi-static case. It demonstrates that the porous medium permeability and the cylinder temperature are the dominant factors in determining the point at which convection heat transfer becomes significant, with convection expected to be insignificant for Darcy permeabilies lower than 10⁻⁵ m/s. The analysis also gives an indication of the rates of thawing occurring in different directions without resorting to numerical methods. The practical implications of a thawing pattern significantly different to that predicted by conduction theory only are discussed briefly with respect to the problem of differential thaw settlement of arctic pipelines.     

Convective heat loss of water in a circular pipe cooled at constant rate

A numerical study is made of the heat loss by natural convection of water within a horizontal circular cylinder with wall temperature decreasing at a constant rate. The particular situation of water with maximum density at 4 °C is formulated in dimensionless relations based on a linear relationship between the water thermal expansion coefficient and the temperature. Such an approach leads to an exhaustive solution in terms of a non linear Rayleigh number. The link is also established with the standard situation where the hypothesis of a linear relationship between density and temperature is applicable. In particular it is shown that the quasi steady state results obtained for a standard situation become equilibrium curves to which the system tends with increasing difference between the temperature of the boundary and 4 °C. A complete numerical solution is obtained for non linear Rayleigh numbers ranging between 0 and 10⁷. Previous numerical and experimental results on the horizontal circular cylinder are also discussed and recast in terms of the present dimensional approach.     

Stability of a fluid in a horizontal saturated porous layer: effect of non-linear concentration profile, initial, and boundary conditions

Carbon dioxide injected into saline aquifers dissolves in the resident brines increasing their density, which might lead to convective mixing. Understanding the factors that drive convection in aquifers is important for assessing geological CO₂ storage sites. A hydrodynamic stability analysis is performed for non-linear, transient concentration fields in a saturated, homogenous, porous medium under various boundary conditions. The onset of convection is predicted using linear stability analysis based on the amplification of the initial perturbations. The difficulty with such stability analysis is the choice of the initial conditions used to define the imposed perturbations. We use different noises to find the fastest growing noise as initial conditions for the stability analysis. The stability equations are solved using a Galerkin technique. The resulting coupled ordinary differential equations are integrated numerically using a fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. The upper and lower bounds of convection instabilities are obtained. We find that at high Rayleigh numbers, based on the fastest growing noise for all boundary conditions, both the instability time and the initial wavelength of the convective instabilities are independent of the porous layer thickness. The current analysis provides approximations that help in screening suitable candidates for homogenous geological CO₂ sequestration sites.     

Experimental Investigation of Transient Thermal Convection in Porous Media

A laboratory experiment of transient thermal convection in a 1-m-high cell was conducted to compare the length and time scales of plume development to theory. The temperature field was resolved to less than 1 mm and was measured by dissolving a solution of thermochromic crystals into the water–glycerin working fluid. The time-dependent experiment was run by applying heat at the bottom boundary that eventually was \(6\,^\circ \) C above the background temperature of the fluid. After development of a thermal boundary layer, the instability became visible at 26 min, with the development of 11, 3–4 cm width plumes growing from the boundary layer. The initially rapid growth rate reached a limiting velocity of approximately 0.5 cm min \(^{-1}\) , and then decelerated throughout the experiment. Plumes interacted primarily by merging together; by the end of the experiment only three plumes were present. The Nusselt number at the onset of convection was 10, although it dropped to 4 after 45 min, which would be expected of a barely unstable system.     

Steady mixed convection boundary layer flow over a vertical flat plate in a porous medium filled with water at 4°C: case of variable wall temperature

The problem of steady mixed convection boundary layer flow over a vertical impermeable flat plate in a porous medium saturated with water at 4°C (maximum density) when the temperature of the plate varies as x ^m and the velocity outside boundary layer varies as x ^{2 m} , where x measures the distance from the leading edge of the plate and m is a constant is studied. Both cases of the assisting and the opposing flows are considered. The plate is aligned parallel to a free stream velocity U _∞ oriented in the upward or downward direction, while the ambient temperature is T _∞ = T _m (temperature at maximum density). The mathematical models for this problem are formulated, analyzed and simplified, and further transformed into non-dimensional form using non-dimensional variables. Next, the system of governing partial differential equations is transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations using the similarity variables. The resulting system of ordinary differential equations is solved numerically using a finite-difference method known as the Keller-box scheme. Numerical results for the non-dimensional skin friction or shear stress, wall heat transfer, as well as the temperature profiles are obtained and discussed for different values of the mixed convection parameter λ and the power index m. All the numerical solutions are presented in the form of tables and figures. The results show that solutions are possible for large values of λ and m for the case of assisting flow. Dual solutions occurred for the case of opposing flow with limited admissible values of λ and m. In addition, separation of boundary layers occurred for opposing flow, and separation is delayed for the case of water at 4°C (maximum density) compared to water at normal temperature.     

Free convection effects on the flow of water at 4°C past a semi-infinite inclined plate

Free convection flow of water at its maximum density past a semi-infinite inclined plate has been studied by using an implicit-finite difference technique. The steady-state velocity and temperature profiles, local and average skin friction and the Nusselt number are shown graphically. It is observed that velocity decreases owing to a fall in temperature of water from 20°C to 4°C.     

Stability of stationary convective flow of a mixture in a vertical porous layer

In contrast to the corresponding viscous flow, the convective flow of a homogeneous liquid in a planar vertical layer whose boundaries are maintained at different temperatures is stable [1]. When a porous layer is saturated with a binary mixture, in the presence of potentially stable stratification one must expect an instability of thermal-concentration nature to be manifested. This instability mechanism is associated with the difference between the temperature and concentration relaxation times, which leads to a buoyancy force when an element of the fluid is displaced horizontally. In viscous binary mixtures, the thermal-concentration instability is the origin of the formation of layered flows, which have been studied in detail in recent years [2–4]. The convective instability of the equilibrium of a binary mixture in a porous medium was considered earlier by the present authors in [5]. In the present paper, the stability of stationary convective flow of a binary mixture in a planar vertical porous layer is studied. It is shown that in the presence of sufficient longitudinal stratification the flow becomes unstable against thermal-concentration perturbations; the stability boundary is determined as a function of the parameters of the problem.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 150–157, January–February, 1980.     

Natural convection in a reservoir sidearm subject to solar radiation: experimental observations

The natural convection in a reservoir sidearm induced by solar radiation is visualised using a shadowgraph technique. The flow visualisation reveals three stages of the flow development, namely an initial growth stage, a transitional stage and a quasi-steady stage. At the initial growth stage, a distinct thermal boundary layer grows rapidly along the sloping bottom. The transitional stage is characterised by the onset of convective instability in a form of rising plumes. At the quasi-steady state, the mean temperature across the enclosure increases steadily in time and the flow is sighted with quasi-regular presence of instabilities with reduced intensities. Received: 3 July 2001/Accepted: 10 December 2001     

The coupling between turbulent,penetrative convection and internal waves

Experiments aimed at exploring the coupling of penetrative convection with internal waves in the adjoining, stable layer were performed in a long convection cell. The experiments are motivated by preliminary theoretical results suggesting that an intrinsic phase instability may exist in the coupled system in which case long internal waves modulate the height and strength of convective plumes. Using a temperature-controlled, stably stratified experimental apparatus, measured temperature data reveal the presence of long internal wave modes that persist for many convective time scales. The frequencies of these waves increase linearly in time during the energy transfer between the convective and stratified regions as the depth of the stratified region diminishes and the depth of the mixed layer increases. Temporal variations in the heat flux, interface rise characteristics, and frequencies of internal wave motions are reported. A natural temporal modulation of the thickness of the transition layer separating the mixed layer from the stratified layer occurs following commencement of heating, with the amplitude and frequency of the modulation varying with the initial stratification. Temperature variance data suggest that a fairly strong interaction between convection and internal waves occurs, especially when the interface region is midway between the upper and lower boundaries of the cell and the no-slip boundary conditions play a less influential role on the dynamics of the coupling.     

Experimental study of compressible boundary layer on a cone at angles of attack

Experimental study was conducted for boundarylayers on a sharp 5° half-angle cone of 400mm length at angles of attack. The model was tested in the T-326 hypersonic wind tunnel （ITAM） at freestream Mach number M = 5.95. Mean and fluctuation wall characteristics of the boundary layer are measured at 0°, 2°, 3° and 4° angles of attack for different stagnation pressures. Pulsation measurements are carried out by means of ALTP sensor. Pressure and temperature distributions along the model are obtained, and transition beginning and end locations have been found. Boundary layer stabilization with the increase of angle of attack and the decrease of stagnation pressure is observed. High frequency pulsations inherent to hypersonic boundary layer （second mode） have been detected.     

Experimental study of the instability of convective boundary layers under the action of vibration

The wave instability of convective boundary layers in a horizontal cylindrical layer of ethanol under the action of vertical hamonic high-frequency vibration is studied. A strong destabilizing effect of the vibration on the stability of the convective boundary layers is detected. In the plane of the gravity and vibration Rayleigh numbers (Ra and R _V ), the excitation limit of the wave instability is determined. The periods of the temperature oscillations caused by the waves in the boundary layers near the inner and outer cavity boundaries are studied as functions of the Rayleigh numbers. Perm’. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 32–40, May–June, 1998.     

Turbulent boundary layers on axially-inclined cylinders. II. Circumferentially averaged wall-pressure wavenumber–frequency spectra

The boundary layer on a long cylinder with its axis at small inclinations to the freestream (an idealisation of “streamers” used in underwater seismic surveys) has been studied experimentally. For the range of incidence 0–6°, there is no evidence of vortex shedding at typical Reynolds numbers. The circumferentially averaged fluctuating wall pressure decreases with increasing incidence, showing that increases in extraneous noise in seismic measurements when the streamer is at incidence are not caused by the changes in boundary layer structure. Wavenumber–frequency spectra of the circumferentially averaged wall pressure show a convective ridge that persists for the range of incidences studied. Received: 10 June 2000/Accepted: 4 July 2001     

Transient natural convection cooling of a high Prandtl number fluid in a cubical cavity

This work presents a numerical analysis of the effects of thermal boundary conditions, fluid variable viscosity and wall conduction on transient laminar natural convection of a high Prandtl number (Pr=4×10⁴) fluid (Golden Syrup) in a cubical cavity. The simulations consider physical situations realizable at laboratory scale using a cavity with Plexiglas walls of 1 cm of thickness, and inside dimension of L=20 cm. The initial Rayleigh (Ra) number is 10⁶. The cavity is initially full of fluid at rest and at constant temperature (T _i =45°C) higher than the temperature of the walls (T _w =25°C). The time evolution of the flow patterns, the temperature contours, the mean temperature of the fluid and the Nusselt number (Nu) of eight different cases of cooling are presented and analyzed.     

Numerical experiments on convective heat transfer in water-saturated porous media at near-critical conditions

Fluid and heat flow at temperatures approaching or exceeding that at the critical point (374 °C for pure water, higher for saline fluids) may be encountered in deep zones of geothermal systems and above cooling intrusives. In the vicinity of the critical point the density and internal energy of fluids show very strong variations for small temperature and pressure changes. This suggests that convective heat transfer from thermal buoyancy flow would be strongly enhanced at near-critical conditions. This has been confirmed in laboratory experiments. We have developed special numerical techniques for modeling porous flow at near-critical conditions, which can handle the extreme nonlinearities in water properties near the critical point. Our numerical simulations show strong enhancements of convective heat transfer at near-critical conditions; however, the heat transfer rates obtained in the simulations are considerably smaller than data reported from laboratory experiments by Dunn and Hardee. We discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy and develop suggestions for additional laboratory experiments.     

Numerical investigation of transient natural convection heat transfer of freezing water in a square cavity

In this study, a transient heat transfer process of freezing water inside a two-dimensional square cavity has been investigated numerically. Water was used as a phase-change medium, and the numerical model has been created with control volume approach by using C++ programming language. To be able to accelerate the numerical calculations, CUT (Consistent-Update-Technique) algorithm has been implemented in the numerical code. Span-wise variations of the vertical component of the velocity have been represented in comparison with the experimental measurements from the literature at various vertical positions to examine the accuracy of the numerical scheme. The influence of natural convection has been considered by comparing the conduction and convection dominated solidification under same boundary conditions. Comparative results have been obtained regarding time-wise variations of the cold wall temperature and the dimensionless effectiveness. Moreover, the streamlines and isotherms have been represented to understand the differences between the conduction and convection driven phase change processes.Results indicate that natural convection becomes remarkable and has different forms at the initial periods of the phase change process. Increasing the effect of natural convection in the cavity increases the cooling rate of water. Near the density inversion temperature of water (4°C), temperature variations fluctuate and counter currents observed in the domain.