Characterization of fluid flow patterns and heat transfer in horizontal channel mixed convection

Two mechanisms of roll initiation are highlighted in a horizontal channel flow, uniformly heated from below, at constant heat flux (Γ = 10, Pr = 7, 50 ≤ Re ≤ 100, 0 ≤ Ra ≤ 10⁶). The first mechanism is the classical one, it occurs for low Rayleigh numbers and is initiated by the lateral wall effect. The second occurs for higher Rayleigh numbers and combines the previous effect with a supercritical vertical temperature gradient in the lower boundary layer, which simultaneously triggers pairs of rolls in the whole zone in between the two lateral rolls. We have found that in the present configuration, the transition between the two roll initiation mechanisms occurs for Ra/Re ² ≈ 18. Consequently, the heat transfer is significantly enhanced compared to the pure forced convection case owing to the flow pattern responsible of the continuous flooding the heated wall with cold fluid.     

Conjugate heat transfer in enclosures with openings for ventilation

Conjugate heat transfer by natural convection and conduction in enclosures with openings has been studied by a numerical method. The enclosure contained a chimney consisting of a vertical solid wall, which was insulated on one side and a constant heat flux applied on the other. Vertical boundaries with openings were isothermal and horizontal boundaries adiabatic. These problems are encountered in heat transfer in buildings and heat management in electronic equipment. Two dimensional equations of conservation of mass, momentum and energy, with the Boussinesq approximation are solved using the Simpler method. Various geometrical parameters were: aspect ratio, A from 0.5 to 2.0, openings' heights, h ₁ and h ₂ from 0.10 to 0.30, orifice height, h ₃ from 0.05 to 0.15, insulation thickness, w ₁ from 0 to 0.10, wall thickness, w ₂ from 0.05 to 0.15 and chimney width, w ₃ from 0.05 to 0.15. Rayleigh number, Ra was varied from 10 ⁸ to 10 ¹² and the conductivity ratio, k _r was from 1 to 40. The results are reduced in terms of the normalized Nusselt number, Nu and volume flow rate, V? as a function of Ra number, and other non dimensional geometrical parameters. The isotherms and streamlines are produced for various Ra numbers and geometrical conditions. It is found that Nu and V? are both an increasing function of Ra, h ₁ at high Ra numbers, h ₃, and k _r. They are a decreasing function of h ₁ at low Ra numbers, h ₂, and w ₂. Nu and V? have optima with respect to w ₁, w ₃ and A.     

Natural convection with evaporation in a vertical cylindrical cavity under the effect of temperature-dependent surface tension

The effect of surface tension on laminar natural convection in a vertical cylindrical cavity filled with a weak evaporating liquid has been analyzed numerically. The cylindrical enclosure is insulated at the bottom, heated by a constant heat flux from the side, and cooled by a non-uniform evaporative heat flux from the top free surface having temperature-dependent surface tension. Governing equations with corresponding boundary conditions formulated in dimensionless stream function, vorticity, and temperature have been solved by finite difference method of the second-order accuracy. The influence of Rayleigh number, Marangoni number, and aspect ratio on the liquid flow and heat transfer has been studied. Obtained results have revealed that the heat transfer rate at free surface decreases with Marangoni number and increases with Rayleigh number, while the average temperature inside the cavity has an opposite behavior; namely, it growths with Marangoni number and reduces with Rayleigh number.     

Transient natural convection between concentric and vertically eccentric spheres with mixed boundary conditions

Transient analysis has been investigated numerically to determine heat transfer by natural convection between concentric and vertically eccentric spheres with constant heat flux on the inner wall and a specified isothermal temperature on the outer wall. The governing equations, in terms of vorticity, stream function and temperature are expressed in a spherical polar coordinate system. The alternating direction implicit method and the successive over-relaxation techniques are applied to solve the finite difference form of governing equations. A physical model is introduced which accounts for the effects of fluid buoyancy as well as eccentricity of the outer sphere. Transient solutions of the entire flow field are obtained for a range of modified Rayleigh number (10³<Ra?<5×10⁵), for a Prandtl number of 0.7 and a radius ratio of 2.0, with the outer sphere near the top and bottom of the inner sphere (ε=±0.625). Results of the parametric study conducted further reveal that the heat and flow fields are primarily dependent on the modified Rayleigh number and the eccentricity of the spherical annulus. The results of average Nusselt numbers are also compared with the results obtained for flow between two isothermal spheres.     

Natural convection heat transfer along vertical rectangular ducts

Experimental investigations have been reported on steady state natural convection from the outer surface of vertical rectangular and square ducts in air. Seven ducts have been used; three of them have a rectangular cross section and the rest have square cross section. The ducts are heated using internal constant heat flux heating elements. The temperatures along the vertical surface and the peripheral directions of the duct wall are measured. Axial (perimeter averaged) heat transfer coefficients along the side of each duct are obtained for laminar and transition to turbulent regimes of natural convection heat transfer. Axial (perimeter averaged) Nusselt numbers are evaluated and correlated using the modified Rayleigh numbers for laminar and transition regime using the vertical axial distance as a characteristic length. Critical values of the modified Rayleigh numbers are obtained for transition to turbulent. Furthermore, total overall averaged Nusselt numbers are correlated with the modified Rayleigh numbers and the area ratio for the laminar regimes. The local axial (perimeter averaged) heat transfer coefficients are observed to decrease in the laminar region and increase in the transition region. Laminar regimes are obtained at the lower half of the ducts and its chance to appear decreases as the heat flux increases.     

Natural convection in an inclined enclosure containing internal energy sources and cooled from below

Natural convection in an inclined enclosure from below and containing internally heated fluid has been investigated using a finite difference calculation procedure. Results have been obtained for Rayleigh number values up to 10⁶ and for inclination angles of 30 and 60°. For internal Rayleigh numbers that are much larger than the external Rayleigh number, the flow rises in the interior and moves down both the hot and cold walls. On the other hand, if the external Rayleigh number has a larger magnitude, the flow moves upwards along the hot surface and downwards along the cold surface. For the latter situation, the inner core is multicellular in nature at large external Rayleigh numbers. The average heat flux ratio along the cold surface (convective heat flux/corresponding conduction heat flux) increases with increasing external Rayleigh number and decreasing internal ratio is non-monotonic in nature. The heat flux ratio along both surfaces is observed to be strongly dependent on the inclination angle at high external Rayleigh numbers. A maximum in the local heat flux along the cold surface is obtained in the vicinity of x/L = 1 where hot fluid, either from the interior or directly from the opposite hot wall, meets the surface. Along the hot wall, a maximum in the heat flux ra flo     

Natural convection flow in a square cavity revisited: Laminar and turbulent models with wall functions

Numerical simulations have been undertaken for the benchmark problem of natural convection flow in a square cavity. The control volume method is used to solve the conservation equations for laminar and turbulent flows for a series of Rayleigh numbers (Ra) reaching values up to 10¹⁰. The k-? model has been used for turbulence modelling with and without logarithmic wall functions. Uniform and non-uniform (stretched) grids have been employed with increasing density to guarantee accurate solutions, especially near the walls for high Ra-values. ADI and SIP solvers are implemented to accelerate convergence. Excellent agreement is obtained with previous numerical solutions, while some discrepancies with others for high Ra-values may be due to a possibly different implementation of the wall functions. Comparisons with experimental data for heat transfer (Nusselt number) clearly demonstrates the limitations of the standard k-? model with logarithmic wall functions, which gives significant overpredictions.     

Experimental and numerical study on laminar natural convection in a cavity heated from bottom due to an inclined fin

Natural convection heat transfer in an inclined fin attached square enclosure is studied both experimentally and numerically. Bottom wall of enclosure has higher temperature than that of top wall while vertical walls are adiabatic. Inclined fin has also adiabatic boundary conditions. Numerical solutions have been done by writing a computer code in Fortran platform and results are compared with Fluent commercial code and experimental method. Governing parameters are Rayleigh numbers (8.10⁵ ≤ Ra ≤ 4 × 10⁶) and inclination angle (30° ≤ and ≤ 120°). The temperature measurements are done by using thermocouples distributed uniformly at the wall of the enclosure. Remarkably good agreement is obtained between the predicted results and experimental data. A correlation is also developed including all effective parameters on heat transfer and fluid flow. It was observed that heat transfer can be controlled by attaching an inclined fin onto wall.     

Buoyancy and cross flow effects on heat transfer of multiple impinging slot air jets cooling a flat plate at different orientations

The present article reports on heat transfer characteristics associated with multiple laminar impinging air jet cooling a hot flat plat at different orientations. The work aims to study the interactions of the effects of cross flow, buoyancy induced flow, orientation of the hot surface with respect to gravity, Reynolds numbers and Rayleigh numbers on heat transfer characteristics. Experiments have been carried out for different values of jet Reynolds number, Rayleigh number and cross flow strength and at different orientations of the air jet with respect to the target hot plate. In general, the effective cooling of the plate has been observed to be increased with increasing Reynolds number and Rayleigh number. The results concluded that the hot surface orientation is important for optimum performance in practical applications. It was found that for Re ≥ 400 and Ra ≥ 10,000 (these ranges give 0.0142 ≤ Ri ≤ 1.59 the Nusselt number is independent on the hot surface orientation. However, for Re ≤ 300 and Ra ≥ 100,000 (these ranges give 1.59 ≤ Ri ≤ 42.85): (i) the Nusselt number for horizontal orientation with hot surface facing down is less that that of vertical orientation and that of horizontal orientation with hot surface facing up, and (ii) the Nusselt number of vertical orientation is approximately the same as that of horizontal orientation with hot surface facing up. For all surfaces orientations and for the entire ranges of Re and Ra, it was found that increasing the cross flow strength decreases the effective cooling of the surface.     

Free convection heat transfer from an isothermal wavy surface in a porous enclosure

The coupled streamfuction–temperature equations governing the Darcian flow and convection process in a fluid-saturated porous enclosure with an isothermal sinusoidal bottom sun face, has been numerically analyzed using a finite element method (FEM). No restrictions have been imposed on the geometrical non-linearity arising from the parameters like wave amplitude (a), number of waves per unit length (N), wave phase (Φ), aspect ratio (A) and also on the flow driving parameter Rayleigh number (Ra). The numerical simulations for varying values of Ra bring about interesting flow features, like the transformation of a unicellular flow to a multicellular flow. Both with increasing amplitude and increasing number of waves per unit length, owing to the shift in the separation and reattachment points, a row–column pattern of multicellular flow transforms to a simple row of multicellular flow. A cycle of n celluar and n+1 cellular flows, with the flow in adjacent cells in the opposite direction, periodically manifest with phase varying between 0 and 360°. The global heat transfer into the system has been found to decrease with increasing amplitude and increasing number of waves per unit length. Only marginal changes in the global heat flux are observed, either with increasing Ra or varying Φ. Effectively, sinusoidal bottom surface undulations of the isothermal wall of a porous enclosure reduces the heat transfer into the system. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical estimation of mixed convection heat transfer in vertical helically coiled tube heat exchangers

A numerical investigation of the mixed convection heat transfer from vertical helically coiled tubes in a cylindrical shell at various Reynolds and Rayleigh numbers, various coil‐to‐tube diameter ratios and non‐dimensional coil pitches was carried out. The particular difference in this study compared with other similar studies is the boundary conditions for the helical coil. Most studies focus on constant wall temperature or constant heat flux, whereas in this study it was a fluid‐to‐fluid heat exchanger. The purpose of this article is to assess the influence of the tube diameter, coil pitch and shell‐side mass flow rate on shell‐side heat transfer coefficient of the heat exchanger. Different characteristic lengths were used in the Nusselt number calculations to determine which length best fits the data and finally it has been shown that the normalized length of the shell‐side of the heat exchanger reasonably demonstrates the desired relation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical investigation of transient laminar natural convection of air in a tall cavity

Transient laminar natural convection of air in a tall cavity has been studied numerically. The Navier-Stokes and Energy equations were solved by the accurate projection method (PmIII), in which the derived Poisson equation for pressure potential was solved by the approximate factorization one method (AF1). The aspect ratio of the tall cavity is 16, and the Prandtl number of air filled in the tall cavity is 0.71. To obtain the numerical results of heat transfer by natural convection of air in the tall cavity, the second order schemes for the space and time discretizations were utilized. The availability of the numerical algorithm was also assessed by considering the natural convection of air in a square cavity which is differentially heated from side walls. It was found that the overall Nusselt numbers for the Rayleigh numbers covering the range from 1000 to 100000 reveal a good agreement with measured data. When Ra takes the value in the range from 100000 to 600000, the overall Nusselt number have a relative deviation less than 18% from the experimental data. For the suddenly heating mode, the multicellular flow pattern occurs when Rayleigh number belongs to the range of Ra from 7000 to 20000. or greater than 115000. At the critical number of cats' eye instability, the cell distance is just twice of the cavity width. This is rather similar to the observed result for Bénard problem. When Ra is over 115000, a further increase of heat flux across the tall cavity causes serious cell-breaking. There are 8 cells when Ra = 600000.     

Combined radiation and natural convection in a rectangular cavity with a transparent wall and containing a non-participating fluid

This paper describes a numerical method for the study of combined natural convection and radiation in a rectangular, two-dimensional cavity containing a non-participating (i.e. transparent) fluid. One wall of the cavity is isothermal, being heated either by solar radiation or independently. The opposite wall is partially transparent, permitting radiation exchanges between the cavity and its surroundings and/or the Sun; that wall also exchanges heat by convection from its external surface to the surroundings. The other two walls are adiabatic: convection and radiation there are balanced, so that there is no heat transfer through those walls. The equations of motion and energy are solved by finite difference methods. Coupled to these equations are the radiative flux boundary conditions which are used to determine the temperature distribution along the non-isothermal walls. A two-band radiation model has been employed. Results are presented for a square cavity with a vertical hot wall at 150 °C, the ambient at 20 °C and 10⁴ ? Ra ? 3 × 10⁵, in the absence of direct insolation. The effects on the flow and heat transfer in the cavity of radiation and external convection have been examined. More extensive results will be presented in subsequent papers.     

Nodal integral method solutions for Bénard natural convection

The nodal integral method is a relatively new numerical technique that has been used recently to solve both static and dynamic multidimensional problems in heat transfer, fluid flow and neutron transport. The method offers significant advantages in terms of stability, accuracy and efficiency over conventional finite elements when the problem can be adequately modelled in Cartesian co-ordinates. This method was used to investigate bifurcation phenomena in the Bénard problem for aspect ratios in the range of one to nine. Automatic search techniques were used with a static version to find the first four critical Rayleigh values for a square cavity, to map the first two critical Rayleigh values as a function of aspect ratio, and to examine the solution types. Accuracy enhancement was obtained by factorization and extrapolation. Critical values, obtained by interpolation, were verified dynamically. Aspect ratio crossover and transition values were found for the first two critical Rayleigh numbers, with an accuracy of the order of ±3 per cent. The precision achieved in the results for Ra* and Ra** as a function of β is usually within 0.1%–0.2% except at high β (i.e. near β=9.0) and at large critical values of Ra (i.e. the first few values of Ra** near β=1). Specific results at β=1.0 are Ra*=2584±0.5, Ra**=6807, Ra³* = 19 734 and Ra⁴*=22 586.     

Numerical analysis of laminar natural convection in enclosures with fins attached to an active wall

Vertical enclosures with conducting fins attached to the cold wall were considered. Side walls were kept at constant but different temperatures, while horizontal top and bottom walls were insulated. A conjugate formulation was used for the mathematical formulation of the problem, and a computer program based on the control volume approach and the SIMPLE algorithm was developed. Computations were performed to investigate the effects of the fin configuration and Rayleigh number on the flow structure and heat transfer. It was observed that the heat transfer rate through an enclosure can be controlled by attaching fins to the wall(s) of the enclosure. At low Rayleigh numbers (conduction controlled regime), the heat transfer rate increases with the increasing number of fins and the fin length. However, at higher Rayleigh numbers (convection dominant regimes), the heat transfer rate can be decreased or increased by properly choosing the number of fins and the fin lengths. Received on 07 April 1997     

Transient oscillatory conjugate natural convection in a tall water cavity

A two-dimensional numerical simulation was conducted to investigate the effects of the heat capacity of the heated wall on the transient oscillatory convection in a tall cavity. Results were particularly obtained for water (Pr=6) in a tall cavity (A=6) with constant-heat-flux heating on one side and isothermal cooling on the opposing side. Significant wall heat capacity effects were found. Specifically, a heated wall of finite heat capacity can slow down the flow evolution process to steady state at low Rayleigh number and damp the flow oscillation during the initial developing period at high Rayleigh number. In periodic flow atRa* _H =4.4×10¹⁰ the wall heat capacity significantly reduces the amplitude of the temperature oscillation. A quasi-periodic flow atRa* _H =4.8×10¹⁰ was found to become periodic when the wall heat capacity was included. The wall heat capacity does not shown noticeable effect when the flow is chaotic forRa* _H =6.0×10¹⁰.In einer zweidimensionalen numerischen Simulationsrechnung wurde der Einfluß der Wärmekapazität einer beheizten Wand auf die nichtstationäre oszillatorische Konvektion in einem großen Behälter untersucht. Die Resultate beziehen sich speziell auf Wasser (Pr=6), einen tiefen Behälter (H/W=6) und konstanten Wärmezufluß auf der einen und isotherme Kühlung auf der anderen Wandseite. Es traten signifikante Effekte in Abhängigkeit von der Wandwärmekapazität auf. Insbesondere vermag eine beheizte Wand begrenzter Wärmekapazität bei niedrigen Rayleigh-Zahlen die Entwicklung des Strömungsprozesses bis zum Stationärzustand abzubremsen und bei hohen Rayleigh-Zahlen die Strömungsoszillationen während der Einschwingphase zu dämpfen. Bei periodischem Strömungszustand undRa* _H =4,4·10¹⁰ verringert die Wandkapazität die Amplitude der Temperaturschwingung beträchtlich. Es zeigte sich ferner, daß ein quasiperiodischer Strömungszustand beiRa* _H =4,8·10¹⁰ periodisch wird, wenn die Wandkapazität Einfluß nimmt. Letztere hatte keine nachweisbaren Wirkungen bei chaotischem Strömungszustand mitRa* _H =6,0·10¹⁰.     

Natural convection from a vertical cylinder in a thermally stratified porous medium

The problem of non-Darcy natural convection adjacent to a vertical cylinder embedded in a thermally stratified porous medium has been analyzed. Nonsimilarity solutions are obtained for the case that the ambient temperature increases linearly with height of the cylinder. A generalized flow model was used in the present study to include the effects of the macroscopic viscous term and the microscopic inertial force. Also, the thermal dispersion effect is considered in the energy equation. Thus, the main aim of this work is to examine the effects of thermal stratification and non-Darcy flow phenomena on the free convection flow and heat transfer characteristics. It was found that the present problem depends on six parameters, namely, the local thermal stratification parameter ξ, the boundary effect parameter Bp, the modified Grashof number Gr^*, wall temperature exponent m, the curvature parameter ω, and the modified Rayleigh number based on pore diameter Ra _d . The impacts of these governing parameters on the local heat transfer parameter are discussed in great detail. Also, representative velocity and temperature profiles are presented at selected values of the thermal stratification parameter. In general, the local heat transfer parameter is increased with increasing the values of m, ω, and Ra _d ; while it is decreased with increasing the values of ξ, Bp, and Gr^*. Received on 19 May 1998     

Experimental investigation of natural convection in a vertical rib-roughened channel with asymmetric heating

An experimental study in an open-ended vertical channel is carried out in order to describe the fluid dynamics and heat transfer of transient free convection inside a vertical rib-roughened channel asymmetrically heated at various uniform heat fluxes (650, 700, and 780 W/m²) corresponding to various modified Rayleigh numbers (3.65 × 10⁶, 3.93 × 10⁶ and 4.4 × 10⁶). Two ribs are symmetrically located on each wall. The investigations focused more specifically on the influence of the ribs positions inside the channel and the modified Rayleigh number (Ra^*) both in steady-state regime and during the transitional phase occurring just after the start of the heating on the flow structure and the heat transfer performance. The results showed the appearance of large-scale flow instabilities which will develop and propagate until the development of the pocket-like vortex (reversed flow). Also, the formation and breakup of recirculation eddies, vortex banishment, besides that a separation and shifting of the boundary layer from one wall to another are identified. The best position of the ribs for heat extraction depends on the magnitude of the Rayleigh number. In that case, the top position is the optimal position for the small and the moderate modified Rayleigh numbers.     

Flow and heat transfer due to impulsive motion of a cone in a viscous fluid

Numerical solution has been obtained for the development of the flow over a cone which is impulsively set into motion. Initially the flow is described by the solution of Rayleigh and then it tends to the ultimate steady state solution of Falkner-Skan equation. But due to the leading edge effect the semi-similar equation describing the transient flow changes its character after certain time and the solution depends also on the ultimate steady state solution of the Falkner-Skan equation. A second-order upwind difference scheme has been used for discretisation. The temperature distribution and heat transfer has also been obtained for constant wall temperature as well as for constant heat flux at the wall. With the increase ofm, Falkner-Skan parameter, the magnitude of skin friction and wall heat transfer increases. It has been found that form≥?0.275 flow separation does not occur.