Experimental investigation of natural convection heat transfer between two oblate concentric and eccentric hemi-spheroids with different elliptical ratios

In this paper, natural convection between a pair of oblate hemi-spheroids with different elliptical ratios was depicted experimentally. The experimental tests study the effects of the orientation modes (horizontal, inclined, vertical, inclined revolved and vertical revolved) as well as the vertical eccentricity on the natural convection between each pair. Correlations among Nusselt number, Rayleigh number, elliptical ratio and eccentricity were deduced. A notable increase in the natural convection could be satisfied through the gaps among successive layers of hemi-spheroids having higher elliptical ratio rather than hemi-spherical ones. The positive vertical eccentricity shows remarked increase in natural convection rather than both concentric and negative eccentric cases. Also, the inclination of the minor axis of hemi-spheroids while keeping the major axis parallel to the horizontal plane produces a stronger upward plume rather than different inclination modes.     

Natural convection in vertical concentric annuli under a radial magnetic field

Exact solutions for fully developed natural convection in open-ended vertical concentric annuli under a radial magnetic field are presented. Expressions for velocity field, temperature field, mass flow rate and skin-friction are given, under more general thermal boundary conditions. It is observed that both velocity as well as temperature of the fluid is more in case of isothermal condition compared with constant heat flux case when gap between cylinders is less or equal to radius of inner cylinder while reverse phenomena occur when the gap between cylinders is greater than radius of inner cylinder.     

Effect of induced magnetic field on natural convection in vertical concentric annuli

In the present paper,we have considered the steady fully developed laminar natural convective flow in open ended vertical concentric annuli in the presence of a radial magnetic field.The induced magnetic field produced by the motion of an electrically conducting fluid is taken into account.The transport equations concerned with the considered model are first recast in the non-dimensional form and then unified analytical solutions for the velocity,induced magnetic field and temperature field are obtained for the cases of isothermal and constant heat flux on the inner cylinder of concentric annuli.The effects of the various physical parameters appearing into the model are demonstrated through graphs and tables.It is found that the magnitude of maximum value of the fluid velocity as well as induced magnetic field is greater in the case of isothermal condition compared with the constant heat flux case when the gap between the cylinders is less or equal to 1.70 times the radius of inner cylinder,while reverse trend occurs when the gap between the cylinders is greater than 1.71 times the radius of inner cylinder.These fields are almost the same when the gap between the cylinders is equal to 1.71 times the radius of inner cylinder for both the cases.It is also found that as the Hartmann number increases,there is a flattening tendency for both the velocity and the induced magnetic field.The influence of the induced magnetic field is to increase the velocity profiles.     

Natural convection to water from arrays of short wall-attached cylinders

Experiments of natural convection from arrays of one, two, and three horizontal cylinders attached vertically one above the other to a heated, vertical flat plate in water have shown that the lowest cylinder is essentially unaffected by cylinders above it and has a heat transfer rate less than that of an infinitely long cylinder. The effect on the heat transfer from cylinders in the wake of the lowest cylinder is primarily a function of the spacing between the cylinders, with the increase being larger for greater spacing. For these wake cylinders, increases are sufficient to cause the heat transfer to equal that of an infinite cylinder.     

Experimental analysis of thermal fields in horizontally eccentric cylindrical annuli

This paper presents new experimental results on thermal field and heat transfer in a two-dimensional annulus between horizontally eccentric cylinders. The study is conducted by means of optical techniques, for 1.07×10⁴≤Ra _L≤8.27×10⁴ and a wide eccentricity range. The horizontal eccentricity of the inner cylinder substantially alters the thermal field and the geometry of the plume, but, in analogy to the behaviour for vertical eccentricity, the average Nu is slightly affected in the investigated range of eccentricity. The concentric geometry is also considered mainly to validate the experimental technique and evaluate the accuracy of the adopted methodology by comparison with available results. Both shearing interferometer and reference beam interferometer are obtained by means of Wollaston prisms with appropriate splitting angles, so that the temperature and local Nu distributions may be evaluated quantitatively from the original pictures via digital image processing.     

Natural convection heat transfer from a long heated vertical cylinder to an adjacent air gap of concentric and eccentric conditions

In this work, the natural convection heat transfer from a long vertical electrically heated cylinder to an adjacent air gap is experimentally studied. The aspect and diameter ratios of the cylinder are 55.56 and 6.33, respectively. The experimental measurements were obtained for a concentric condition and six eccentricities from 0.1 to 0.92 at five different heat fluxes. The surface temperature of the heated rod is measured at different heights, and the Nusselt number is calculated at the temperature measurement locations. A correlation is suggested to determine the Nusselt number based on the variation of the eccentric ratio values. The experimental results show a good agreement with other studies.     

Turbulent natural convection over a slender circular cylinder

The transverse-curvature effect on the heat transfer in the turbulent natural convection flow from the outer surface of a slender vertical circular cylinder is studied by an improved integral method for various values of Prandtl numbers and for various values of a transverse curvature parameter.     

Natural convection from a buried elliptic heat source

Numerical solutions are presented for the natural convection heat transfer from an elliptic heat source buried beneath a semi-infinite, saturated, porous medium. The surface of the medium is assumed to be permeable. The governing equations for Darcy flow are solved using finite differences. The complicated geometry is handled through the use of a body-fitted curvilinear coordinate system. Results are presented for Ra values ranging from 10 to 200 and ellipse aspect ratio values from 1.0 (circular cylinder) to 0.167. Two body orientations have been considered. The slender orientation yields much higher hear transfer rates (especially at low ellipse aspect ratio values) than the blunt orientation. The numerical simulations indicate that the boundary-layer approximations cannot be employed for low ellipse aspect ratios. In addition, the heat loss does not depend on the burial depth.     

Conjugate free convection over a vertical slender hollow cylinder embedded in a porous medium

A numerical study of the steady conjugate free convection over a vertical slender, hollow circular cylinder with the inner surface at a constant temperature and embedded in a porous medium is reported. The governing boundary layer equations for the fluid-saturated porous medium over the cylinder along with the one-dimensional heat conduction equation for the cylinder are cast into dimensionless form, by using a non-similarity transformation. The resulting non-similarity equations with their corresponding boundary conditions are solved by using the Keller box method. Emphasis is placed on the effects caused by the wall conduction parameter, p, and calculations have covered a wide range of this parameter. Heat transfer results including the temperature profiles, the interface temperature profiles and the local Nusselt number are presented. Received on 17 November 1997     

Non-Darcian effects on conjugate natural convection between horizontal concentric cylinders filled with a porous medium

An analysis is presented of steady conjugate free convection between two horizontal concentric cylinders filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium; the innermost cylinder surface is maintained at a high temperature and the outermost cylinder surface at a lower one. The velocity-pressure-gradient relation is taken to be nonlinear, with departure from the linear Darcy situation measured by a parameter F₀. The investigation is based on the numerical solution, by a finite-difference method, of the full momentum and energy equations. The streamline and isotherm patterns as well as the local and mean Nusselt numbers are plotted for several physical parameters to show some of the flow and heat transfer characteristics. It is found that all parameters play an important role in the flow and heat transfer characteristics. The model can be applied to a variety of engineering problems.     

Laminar natural convection of Cu-water nanofluid in concentric annuli with radial fins attached to the inner cylinder

Laminar natural convection of Cu-water nano-fluid between two horizontal concentric cylinders with radial fins attached to the inner cylinder is studied numerically. The inner and outer cylinders are maintained at constant temperature. The governing equations in the polar two-dimensional space with the respective boundary conditions are solved using the finite volume method. The hybrid-scheme is used to discretize the convection terms. In order to couple the velocity field and the pressure in the momentum equations, the well known semi-implicit method for pressure linked equation reformed algorithm is adopted. Using the developed code, a parametric study is undertaken, and the effects of the Rayleigh number, Number of fins, length of the fins and the volume fraction of nano-particles on the fluid flow and heat transfer inside the annuli are investigated. In this study, two cases with different number of fins are considered. It is observed from the results that the average Nusselt number increases with increasing both the Rayleigh number and the volume fraction of the nano-particles. Moreover, the average Nusselt number decreases by increasing the fins’ length and the number of fins. Heat transfer rate increases by increasing the fins’ length at all Rayleigh numbers, but it increases by increasing the number of fins at high Rayleigh numbers.     

Measurements of pulsating and oscillating flows of non-Newtonian fluids through concentric and eccentric cylinders

The unsteady flow of non-Newtonian fluids through concentric and eccentric cylinders was investigated experimentally. Two experiments were carried out; one was pulsating flow and the other was flow under a constant pressure gradient with the inner cylinder oscillating longitudinally. The flow enhancement was examined and its dependence on the frequency of the oscillations and the eccentricity of the apparatus was determined.     

Analytische Untersuchung von freier Konvektion und Filmsieden in laminaren Grenzschichten mit temperaturabhÄngigen Stoffwerten

A two-dimensional, stationary boundary layer modell is derived which allows the treatment of free convection and film boiling on vertical plate and horizontal cylinder under complete consideration of temperature dependent thermophysical properties. Some qualities of these boundary layer solutions are discussed by eleminating the influences of geometry. For horizontal cylinders, a correction of heat transfer for small diameters is given.     

Effect of flow diverters on free convection heat transfer from a pair of vertical arrays of isothermal cylinders

Laminar free convection heat transfer from two vertical arrays of five isothermal cylinders separated by flow diverters is studied experimentally using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The width of flow diverters is kept constant to two-cylinder diameters and the cylinders vertical center-to-center spacing is equal to three-cylinder diameter. Effect of the ratio of the horizontal spacing between two cylinder arrays to their diameter (S_h/D) on heat transfer from the cylinders is investigated for various Rayleigh numbers. The experiments are performed for S_h/D = 2-4, and the Rayleigh number based on the cylinder diameter ranging from 10³ to 3 × 10³. It is observed that for small S_h/D ratios, the flow diverters have a negative effect on the total rate of heat transfer from the arrays; while by increasing the horizontal center to center spacing, they tend to enhance the overall cooling rate of the array. Moreover, increasing Ra and S_h/D generally results in a higher average Nusselt number for each cylinder in the array.     

The effects of transpiration on the boundary layer flow and heat transfer over a vertical slender cylinder

This paper deals with a theoretical (numerical) analysis of the effects that blowing/injection and suction have on the steady mixed convection or combined forced and free convection boundary layer flows over a vertical slender cylinder with a mainstream velocity and a wall surface temperature proportional to the axial distance along the surface of the cylinder. Both cases of buoyancy forces aid and oppose the development of the boundary layer are considered. Similarity equations are derived and their solutions are dependent upon the mixed convection parameter, the non-dimensional transpiration parameter and the curvature parameter, as well as of the Prandtl number. Dual solutions for the previously studied mixed convection boundary layer flows over an impermeable surface of the cylinder are shown to exist also in the present problem for aiding and opposing flow situations.     

Effect of adiabatic wall on the natural convection heat transfer from a wavy surface created by attached horizontal cylinders

The effect of a vertical adiabatic wall on the natural convection heat transfer from vertical array of attached cylinders, which can be considered as wavy surface, was investigated experimentally and numerically. The experiments were carried out using Mach-Zehnder interferometer and the commercial FLUENT code was used for numerical study. This paper focuses on the effect of wall-wavy surface spacing and Rayleigh number variation on the local and average free convection heat transfer coefficients from the each cylinder and the wavy surface. Rayleigh number ranges from 2400 to 10,000 and from 300,000 to 1,250,000 based on cylinder diameter and wavy surface height respectively. The local and average Nusselt numbers were determined for the different Rayleigh numbers, and the ratio of wall- wavy surface spacing to cylinder diameter 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, and ∞. Results are indicated with a single correlation which gives the average Nusselt number as a function of the ratio of the wall-wavy surface spacing to cylinder diameter and the Rayleigh numbers. There is an optimum distance between the wall and wavy surface in which the Nusselt number attain its maximum value. This optimum distance depends on the Rayleigh number.     

Nonsimilar Boundary Layer Analysis of Free Convection Heat Transfer Over a Vertical Cylinder in Bidisperse Porous Media

This work presents a boundary layer analysis for the free convection heat transfer from a vertical cylinder in bidisperse porous media with constant wall temperature. A boundary layer analysis and the two-velocity two-temperature formulation are used to derive the nonsimilar governing equations. The transformed governing equations are solved by the cubic spline collocation method to yield computationally efficient numerical solutions. The effects of inter-phase heat transfer parameter, modified thermal conductivity ratio, and permeability ratio on the heat transfer and flow characteristics are studied. Results show that an increase in the modified thermal conductivity ratio and the permeability ratio can effectively enhance the free convection heat transfer of the vertical cylinder in a bidisperse porous medium. Moreover, the thermal nonequilibrium effects are strong for low values of the inter-phase heat transfer parameter.     

Natural convection heat transfer in the annular region between porous confocal ellipses

The Darcy–Boussinesq equations are solved in two dimensions and in elliptical cylindrical co‐ordinates using a second‐order‐accurate finite difference code and a very fine grid. For the limiting case of a circular geometry, the results show that a hysteresis loop is possible for some values of the radius ratio, in agreement both with previous calculations using cylindrical co‐ordinates and with the available experimental data. For the general case of an annulus of elliptical cross‐section, two configurations, blunt or slender, are considered. When the major axes are horizontal (blunt case) a hysteresis loop appears for a certain range of Raleigh numbers. For the slender configuration, when the major axes are vertical, a transition from a steady to a periodic regime (Hopf bifurcation) has been evidenced. In all cases, the heat transfer rate from the slender geometry is greater than that obtained in the blunt case. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mixed Convection Heat Transfer in the Annulus Between Two Concentric Vertical Cylinders Using Porous Layers

A numerical investigation of the steady-state, laminar, axi-symmetric, mixed convection heat transfer in the annulus between two concentric vertical cylinders using porous inserts is carried out. The inner cylinder is subjected to constant heat flux and the outer cylinder is insulated. A finite volume code is used to numerically solve the sets of governing equations. The Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer model along with Boussinesq approximation is used to solve the flow in the porous region. The Navier–Stokes equation is used to describe the flow in the clear flow region. The dependence of the average Nusselt number on several flow and geometric parameters is investigated. These include: convective parameter, λ, Darcy number, Da, thermal conductivity ratio, K _r, and porous-insert thickness to gap ratio (H/D). It is found that, in general, the heat transfer enhances by the presence of porous layers of high thermal conductivity ratios. It is also found that there is a critical thermal conductivity ratio on which if the values of Kr are higher than the critical value the average Nusselt number starts to decrease. Also, it found that at low thermal conductivity ratio (K _r ≈ 1) and for all values of λ the porous material acts as thermal insulation.