An experimental study of the effect of wall temperature nonuniformity on natural convection in an enclosure heated from the side

An experimental study of natural convection in a parallelepipedal enclosure induced by a single vertical wall is described. The upper half of this wall was warm and the lower half cold. The other enclosure walls were insulated. The temperature and flow measurements were performed in the high Rayleigh number regime (10¹⁰<Ra<5×10¹⁰) by using water as the working fluid. The Rayleigh number was based on the enclosure height and the temperature difference between the warm and the cold part of the driving wall. The flow field featured two flat cells, one filled with warm fluid along the top horizontal wall, and the other filled with cold fluid along the bottom horizontal wall. Each of these cells was surrounded by an additional cell as tall as half the enclosure height. The above flow structure prohibited extensive thermal contact between warm and cold fluid, thus limiting the role of convection on the heat transfer process in the cavity. The findings of this study differ significantly from the findings of previous studies based on the ‘classical’ enclosure model possessing two isothermal vertical walls, the one warm and the other cold, and support the view that the use of ‘more realistic‘ temperature boundary conditions in enclosure natural convection needs careful examination.     

Numerical analysis of natural convection around a vertical channel in a rectangular enclosure

Numerical computations were performed for the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of an internal vertical channel composed by a pair of parallel plates situated in a rectangular enclosure, with the inner plates and the bounding wall of the enclosure maintained at uniform but different temperatures. Natural convection occurred in the air which occupied the enclosure space. The plates were symmetrically arranged. The dimensionless channel widthS was varied parametrically. The Rayleigh numbers ranged from 10² to 10⁷. Static bifurcation was found in this configuration. The bifurcation is related to the flow pattern transition from single-vortex structure to double-vortex structure or vice versa. Comparison with the empirical correlations obtained for a vertical plate and a channel in an infinite space showed that the heat transfer process of the plates and the channel was deteriorated by the existence of the enclosure.     

Conjugate natural convection from an array of discrete heat sources: part 2 — a numerical parametric study

Coupled conduction and natural convection transport within a discretely heated cavity have been investigated numerically. One vertical wall of the cavity is composed of discrete, isoflux heat sources mounted in a substrate of finite thermal conductivity. The opposite vertical wall and the horizontal walls are assumed to be isothermal and adiabatic, respectively. The governing steady-state partial differential equations for the fluid and solid region are solved simultaneously using a control volume formulation, coupled with an additive correction multigrid procedure that increases the convergence rate of the solution. The fluid Prandtl number and heater/fluid thermal conductivity ratio are fixed at 25 and 2350, respectively, corresponding to a dielectric fluid (FC-77) and heaters manufactured from silicon. With increasing modified Rayleigh number (10⁴ < Ra_Lz^* < 109), the cavity flow becomes more boundary layer-like along the vertical walls, and multiple fluid cells develop in the central region. Thermal spreading in the substrate increases with decreasing modified Rayleigh number and with increasing values of the substrate/fluid thermal conductivity ratio (10⁻¹ <- R_s ≤ 10³). For large R_s, the discrete heat sources lose their thermal identity, and the streamlines and isotherms resemble those associated with a differentially heated cavity. Thermal spreading in the substrate also has a significant effect on circulation in the cavity and on maximum surface temperatures.     

Natural convection cooling of a localised heat source at the bottom of a nanofluid-filled enclosure

This article presents a numerical study of natural convection cooling of a heat source embedded on the bottom wall of an enclosure filled with nanofluids. The top and vertical walls of the enclosure are maintained at a relatively low temperature. The transport equations for a Newtonian fluid are solved numerically with a finite volume approach using the SIMPLE algorithm. The influence of pertinent parameters such as Rayleigh number, location and geometry of the heat source, the type of nanofluid and solid volume fraction of nanoparticles on the cooling performance is studied. The results indicate that adding nanoparticles into pure water improves its cooling performance especially at low Rayleigh numbers. The type of nanoparticles and the length and location of the heat source proved to significantly affect the heat source maximum temperature.     

Shroud heat transfer measurements inside a heated multiple rotating cavity with axial throughflow

Experimental measurements of heat transfer are made from the inner peripheral surface of a rotating test rig designed to be similar to a gas turbine high pressure compressor internal air system. The test rig comprises a number of annular discs sealed at their periphery by a shroud. An axial throughflow of cooling air enters the test rig and flows through the annular section between the disc bores and a central shaft. Tests were carried out for the following range of rotational speeds and axial throughflow rates: 540 < N_R < 10,800 rev/min and (corresponding to the range of rotational and axial Reynolds numbers 4 × 10⁵ < Re < 7.7 × 10⁶ and 3.3 × 10⁴ < Re_z < 2.2 × 10⁵).

The shroud Nusselt numbers are found to depend on the shroud Grashof number. They are relatively insensitive to changes in axial Reynolds number and two geometrically similar cavities give similar values of Nusselt number. The heat transfer from the shroud is governed by the mechanism of free convection. It is recommended that a modified form of a correlation for Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a gravitational force field be used, with appropriate modification, to predict shroud heat transfer.     

Two numerical modelings of free convection heat transfer using nanofluids inside a square enclosure

This work describes the numerical simulation of natural convection heat transfer of Cu–water nanofluids in a square enclosure for Rayleigh numbers varying from 10³ up to 10⁵. Two different numerical approaches were used: the finite volume method and the finite element method. The nanofluids were assumed to be single-phase fluids with modified thermal properties obtained from experimental results and theoretical models. The results showed that the Nusselt number for nanofluids was basically the same as that obtained for the base fluid. Therefore, the enhancement observed in the heat transfer coefficient was significant due to the augmentation in the thermal conductivity.     

Non-Darcian Effects on Buoyancy-Induced Heat Transfer in a Partially Divided Square Enclosure with Internal Heat Generation

The present investigation addresses non-Darcian effects on the buoyancy-induced heat transfer in a partially divided square enclosure with internal heat generation. The generalized model of the momentum equation, which is also known as the Forchheimer–Brinkman extended Darcy model, which takes into account boundary and inertia effects, was used in representing the fluid motion inside the porous layer. The local thermal equilibrium condition was assumed to be valid for the range of the thermophysical parameters considered in the present investigation. The transport equations were solved using the finite element formulation based on the Galerkin method of weighted residuals. The validity of the numerical code used was ascertained by comparing our results with previously published results. Results were obtained in terms of streamlines, isotherms, and Nusselt number for various geometrical parameters specifying the height and width of the partition. In addition, the effects of external and internal Rayleigh numbers and Darcy number were highlighted in the proposed study.     

Experimental study on the magnetic convection in a vertical cylinder

The flow of paramagnetic fluid inside a cylinder placed in a bore of a superconducting magnet was studied experimentally. Single-phase closed thermosyphon configuration was employed. The lower side wall of the cylindrical enclosure was heated while the upper side wall was cooled with the thin adiabatic interface in between. The experiment was carried out with an aqueous solution of glycerol. The magnetic susceptibility of the working fluid was increased by adding Gd(NO₃)₃ × 6H₂O and was measured by a magnetic susceptibility balance. The encapsulated liquid crystal slurry (KWN-2025, Japan Capsular Product Inc.) dispersed in the working fluid was illuminated in the middle height horizontal cross-section of the enclosure to visualize the temperature field. The color images of flow mode were taken by a digital camera. The average heat transfer rates were also measured. Depending on the Rayleigh number, different spoke patterns were observed. The number of angular structures (spokes) increased with increase not only in the Rayleigh number but also in the strength of magnetic field. The heated fluid was repelled by the magnetic field, while the cooled fluid was attracted. The magnetic field enhanced the heat transfer rate.     

Conjugate conduction-natural convection in an enclosure with time-periodic sidewall temperature and inclination

The unsteady conjugate conduction-natural convection in enclosure is of great theoretical significance and is widely encountered in engineering applications in the areas of fluid dynamics and heat transfer. However, there are relatively few efforts to investigate the unsteady flow physics and heat transfer characteristics in the inclined enclosure of finite thickness walls. In the present work, this problem is numerically investigated by a high accuracy multidomain temporal-spatial pseudospectral method. The enclosure is filled with Boussinesq fluid and is bounded by four finite thickness and conductive walls; one of the vertical sidewall is exposed to time-periodic temperature environment while the opposite sidewall holds constant temperature; the top and bottom walls are assumed to be adiabatic. Particular efforts are focused on the effects of three types of influential factors: the wall thermophysical properties, the time-periodic temperature patterns and the inclination, and the time-periodic flow patterns and heat transfer characteristics are presented. Numerical results reveal that within the present parameter range, the heat transfer rate increases almost linearly with the thermal conductivity ratio and thermal diffusivity ratio but decreases with the inclination angle. Moreover, the heat transfer could be enhanced or weakened by selecting different temperature pulsating period in the case of finite thickness wall, while it is always enhanced if the walls are zero thickness. The back heat transfer and heat transfer resonance phenomena are observed, and their relationships with the time-periodic flow patterns and temperature distributions are analyzed. The findings are helpful to the understandings of the fluid flow and heat transfer mechanisms in the related enclosure configurations, and may be of engineering use in thermal design improvement.     

Natural convection in an inclined porous enclosure with an off-center diathermal partition

A numerical study has been made of natural convection in an inclinded porous enclosure with an off-center diathermal partition. A temperature difference is imposed between the two isothermal end walls and the other two walls are assumed to be adiabatic. Numerical results are obtained for Rayleigh numbers (Ra) in the range of 10 to 500, the dimensionless partition location ( \(\bar S\) ) ranging from 0.125 to 0.875, the aspect ratios (A) of the enclosure ranging from 0.5 to 5, and the inclination angles (φ) of ?60, ?30, 0, 30, 60 degrees. It is found that the partition location has strong influence at lowRa and relatively weaker influence at highRa. The average Nusselt number reaches the minimum value when the partition is in the middle of the vertical enclosure, and the maximum Nusselt number occurs around φ = 30 degrees.     

Natural convection in composite systems with phase change materials

In this study, we carried out a numerical simulation of transient heat transfer in a composite passive system consisting of air–phase change material–air, arranged as a rectangular enclosure. The vertical boundaries of the enclosure are isothermal and the horizontal ones adiabatic. The enthalpy formulation with a fixed grid is used to study the process of phase change with liquid–solid interface zone controlled by natural convection. The flow in this zone is simulated by a model based on the Darcy porous medium. The numerical solution of the mathematical model is done using finite difference–control volume algorithm. The influence of the geometrical and thermal parameters is studied. It is found that subcooling coefficient is the most important parameter influencing heat transfer, and for a given subcooling, there is an optimum phase change partition thickness.     

Experimental study of developing turbulent flow and heat transfer in ribbed convergent/divergent square ducts

The local heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of developing turbulent flows of air in three stationary ribbed square ducts have been investigated experimentally. These are: ribbed square duct with constant cross-section (straight duct), ribbed divergent square duct and ribbed convergent square duct. The convergent/divergent duct has an inclination angle of 1°. The measurement was conducted within the range of Reynolds numbers from 10 000 to 77 000. The heat transfer performance of the divergent/convergent ducts is compared with the ribbed straight duct under three constraints: identical mass flow rate, identical pumping power and identical pressure drop. Because of the streamwise flow acceleration or deceleration, the local heat transfer characteristics of the divergent and convergent ducts are quite different from those of the straight duct. In the straight duct, the fluid flow and heat transfer become fully developed after 2–3 ribs, while in the divergent and convergent ducts there is no such trend. The comparison shows that among the three ducts, the divergent duct has the highest heat transfer performance, the convergent duct has the lowest, while the straight duct locates somewhere in between.     

Experimental characterization of non-premixed turbulent jet propane flames

This paper reports an experimental study conducted on turbulent jet propane flames aiming at further understanding of turbulent structure in non-premixed slow-chemistry combustion systems. Measurements of mean and fluctuating velocity and temperature fields, mean concentration of major chemical species, correlation between velocity and temperature fluctuations, and dissipation of temperature fluctuations are reported in a turbulent round jet non-premixed propane flame, Re=20 400 and 37 600, issuing vertically in still air. The experimental conditions were designed to provide a complete definition of the upstream boundary conditions in the measurement domain for the purpose of validating computational models. The measured data depicts useful flow field information for describing turbulent non-premixed slow-chemistry flames. Velocity–temperature correlation measurements show turbulent heat fluxes tended to be restricted to the mixing layer where large temperature gradients occurred. Observations of non-gradient diffusion of heat at x/D=10 were verified. Temperature fluctuation dissipation, χ, showed the highest values in the shear layer, where the variance of temperature fluctuations was maximum and combustion occurred. The isotropy between the temperature dissipation in the radial and tangential directions was confirmed. By contrast, the observed anisotropy between axial and radial directions of dissipation suggests the influence of large structures in the entrainment shear layer on the production of temperature fluctuations in the flame region. The value of the normalized scalar dissipation at the stoichiometric mixture fraction surface, χ_st, was calculated, and ranges between 2 and 4 s⁻¹. The measured data were used to estimate the budgets in the balance equations for turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds shear stresses, turbulent heat flux and temperature variance, quantifying the mechanisms involved in the generation of turbulence as well as in the transport of the temperature.     

Reconstruction of a quasi-instantaneous image of coherent structures from hotwire signals obtained by a multi-point simultaneous measurement system

The turbulent velocity components (u, v) at 11 points in a reciprocating oscillatory turbulent flow have been measured simultaneously by a set of eleven X-type hotwire probes located in a plane perpendicular to the mean flow. Using a conditional sampling technique and a new method of data analysis for the inverse estimation of flow fields called the “virtual plate/load and MASCON model”, a quasi-instantaneous three-dimensional image of coherent structures of turbulence was first reconstructed directly from the experimental velocity data. The quasi-instantaneous image was expressed in terms of the velocity components u, v, w and the vorticity components ω_x ω_y, ω_z and we found that the large-scale coherent structure was composed of a pair of counter-rotating fluid motions with asymmetry which was quite different from that of the ensemble-averaged one. Flow patterns induced by the large-scale structure have been clarified by perspective representations visualized by computer simulations that produce timelines and streaklines of fluid particle traces. Results showed that the new experimental method was applicable for investigating the three-dimensional feature of coherent structures including asymmetry.     

Natural convection in inclined partitioned enclosures

The problem of steady, laminar, natural convective flow of a viscous fluid in an inclined enclosure with partitions is considered. Transverse gradient of temperature is applied on the two opposing regular walls of the inclined enclosure while the other walls are maintained adiabatic. The problem is formulated in terms of the vorticity-stream function procedure. A numerical solution based on the finite volume method is obtained. Representative results illustrating the effects of the enclosure inclination angle and the degree of irregularity on the contour maps of the streamlines and temperature are reported and discussed. In addition, results for the average Nusselt number at the heated wall of the enclosure and the difference of extreme stream-function values are presented and discussed for various Rayleigh numbers, inclination angles and dimensionless partition heights.     

Natural convection due to heat and mass transfer in a composite system

A numerical study is performed to analyse heat and mass transfer phenomena due to natural convection in a composite cavity containing a fluid layer overlying a porous layer saturated with the same fluid. The flow in the porous region is modelled using Brinkman–Forchheimer-extended Darcy model that includes both the effect of macroscopic shear (Brinkman effect) and flow inertia (Forchheimer effect). The vertical walls of the two-dimensional enclosure are isothermal whilst the horizontal walls are adiabatic. The two regions are coupled by equating the velocity and stress components at the interface. The resulting coupled equations in non-dimensional form are solved by an alternating direction implicit method by transforming them into parabolic form by the addition of false transient terms. The numerical results show that the amount of fluid penetration into the porous layer depends strongly upon the Darcy, thermal and solutal Rayleigh numbers. Average Nusselt number decreases while average Sherwood number increases with an increase of the Lewis number. The transfer of heat and mass on the heated wall near the interface depends strongly on the Darcy number. Received on 11 May 1998     

Direct contact heat transfer between two immiscible liquids flowing in a horizontal concentric annulus

Direct contact heat transfer between water and a heat transfer oil was investigated under non-boiling conditions in co-current turbulent flow through a horizontal concentric annulus. The ratio of the inner pipe diameter to the outer pipe diameter (aspect ratio) κ = 0.730−0.816; total liquid velocity (mixture velocity) V_T = 0.42−1.1 m/s; inlet oil temperature T_oi = 38−94°C; oil volume fraction in the flowing mixture φ_o = 0.25−0.75 were varied and their effects on the overall volumetric heat transfer coefficient U_v were determined at constant interfacial tension of 48 dynes/cm.

It was found that, in each concentric pipe set, the overall volumetric heat transfer coefficient increased with increasing dispersed phase volume fraction at each constant mixture velocity and reached a maximum at around φ_o = φ_w ≈ 0.5. The maximum U_v values increased with increasing total liquid velocity and decreasing aspect ratio of the annulus. The volumetric heat transfer coefficient was also found to increase with increasing inlet oil temperature and increasing total liquid velocity but to decrease with length along the test section keeping all other parameters constant. Empirical expressions for the volumetric heat transfer coefficient were obtained within the ranges of the experimental parameters.     

Microscale heat transfer in an evaporating moving extended meniscus

The evaporative heat flux distribution in the leading edge region of a moving evaporating thin liquid film of pentane on quartz was obtained by analyzing the measured thickness profile for thicknesses, δ < 2 μm. The profiles in a constrained vapor bubble were obtained using image analyzing interferometry. Although the evaporating meniscus appeared to be benign (i.e., without additional observed motion beyond creeping), high heat fluxes were obtained. Significantly higher heat fluxes are possible. The interfacial slope, curvature, interfacial shear stress, and liquid pressure profiles were also obtained. Results obtained using a continuum model were consistent with those obtained using a control volume model. The measured pressure field profile of the isothermal extended meniscus agreed with the constant pressure field predicted by the augmented Young–Laplace model. For the non-isothermal case, measured thickness gradients lead to disjoining pressure and curvature gradients for fluid flow and evaporation. The experimental results demonstrate that disjoining pressure at the contact line controls fluid flow within an evaporating completely wetting thin curved film and is, therefore, a useful boundary condition. However, in small interfacial systems, non-idealities can have a dramatic effect.     

Performance enhancement of a DC-operated micropump with electroosmosis in a hybrid nanofluid: fractional Cattaneo heat flux problem

The purpose of this investigation is to theoretically shed some light on the effect of the unsteady electroosmotic flow (EOF) of an incompressible fractional second-grade fluid with low-dense mixtures of two spherical nanoparticles, copper, and titanium. The flow of the hybrid nanofluid takes place through a vertical micro-channel. A fractional Cattaneo model with heat conduction is considered. For the DC-operated micropump, the Lorentz force is responsible for the pressure difference through the microchannel. The Debye-Hükel approximation is utilized to linearize the charge density. The semi-analytical solutions for the velocity and heat equations are obtained with the Laplace and finite Fourier sine transforms and their numerical inverses. In addition to the analytical procedures, a numerical algorithm based on the finite difference method is introduced for the given domain. A comparison between the two solutions is presented. The variations of the velocity heat transfer against the enhancements in the pertinent parameters are thoroughly investigated graphically. It is noticed that the fractional-order parameter provides a crucial memory effect on the fluid and temperature fields. The present work has theoretical implications for biofluid-based microfluidic transport systems.

     

Tomographic particle-image velocimetry and thermography in Rayleigh-Bénard convection using suspended thermochromic liquid crystals and digital image processing

Steady-state flow and temperature fields in shallow rectangular enclosures heated from below were visualized and quantitatively characterized by using glycerol as the working fluid and suspended thermochromic liquid crystals as tracers. Couples of photographs taken on 120 transparency film for two orthogonal sets of vertical plane sections were digitized by a 1,200-dpi flatbed scanner and split into HSL (hue-saturation-lightness) components by using commercial general-purpose image processing software. Two-dimensional velocity fields were obtained from the lightness component by a two-frame cross-correlation technique using a commercial particle-image velocimetry (PIV) package. Temperature fields were obtained from the hue component on the basis of an in situ calibration procedure, conducted under conditions of stable thermal stratification. Finally, 2D flow and temperature distributions were interpolated by a purpose-written Fortran program to give 3D flow and thermal fields in the enclosure. Results are presented here for the case of a 1:2:4 aspect ratio cavity at a Rayleigh number of ∼ 14,500, for which a complex 3D flow and temperature distribution was observed. Published online: 7 January 2003