Interferometric study of natural convection in rectangular air cavities of various orientations

The results of an experimental investigation into the temperature profiles and heat transfer associated with natural convection in rectangular air cavities are presented, the angle of inclination varying from 0 (heating at the bottom) to 180° (heating at the top). The range of Rayleigh numbers was R=2.68·10³–2.57·10⁵, and n=H/d=5.06–18.3. The investigation was carried out by an optical method, using an IZK-454 interferometer. For a horizontal orientation of the cavity the heat-transfer data satisfy the relation N=0.216 R^0.25, for a vertical orientation N=0.144 R^0.3h^–0.129, where N is the Nusselt number. In the region of an inclination of 30° the heat transfer passes through a maximum under all conditions studied.Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 89–93, July–August, 1972.