Experimental and Numerical Study of Free Convection on an Isothermal Downward Cone

Abstract

The laminar free-convection heat transfer from an isothermal downward cone in air is investigated experimentally and numerically. The experimental investigation is carried out by Mach-Zehnder interferometery technique and the numerical simulation was done by Fluent. The cone tip angle has been kept constant to 45° and it was suspended from its base throughout the experiment. This article focuses on the effect of Rayleigh number variation on the local and average free-convection heat transfer coefficient over the conical surface. The local and average Nusselt numbers were determined for the Rayleigh number range of 4.9×10⁵ to 1.1×10⁶. Also, the experiment and the numerical simulation were carried out on a vertical isothermal cylinder of circular cross section in order to compare results with other researchers for the verification of our experimental and numerical results. The significant influence of the upper end surface of the cone, both in the experimental and numerical studies, indicated a recirculation region above the upper end surface which affects the local convection heat transfer at the slant trailing edge and causes it to increase. Also, a correlation for the calculation of the local Nusselt number over the cone is proposed.