Natural Convection in a Vertical Annuli with Discrete Heat Sources

In this article, we numerically study natural convection heat transfer in a cylindrical annular cavity with discrete heat sources on the inner wall, whereas the outer wall is isothermally cooled at a lower temperature, and the top wall, the bottom wall, and unheated portions of the inner wall are assumed to be thermally insulated. To investigate the effect of discrete heating on the natural convection heat transfer, at most two heating sources located near the top and bottom walls are considered, and the size and location of these discrete heaters are varied in the enclosure. The governing equations are solved numerically by an implicit finite difference method. The effect of heater placements, heater lengths, aspect ratio, radii ratio, and modified Rayleigh number on the flow and heat transfer in the annuli are analyzed. Our numerical results show that when the size of the heater is smaller, the heat transfer rates are higher. We also found that the heat transfer in the annular cavity increases with radii ratio and modified Rayleigh number, and can be enhanced by placing a heater with the smaller length near the bottom surface.     

Numerical study of natural convection in a vertical porous annulus with discrete heating

In this paper natural convection flows in a vertical annulus filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium has been investigated when the inner wall is subject to discrete heating. The outer wall is maintained isothermally at a lower temperature, while the top and bottom walls, and the unheated portions of the inner wall are kept adiabatic. Through the Brinkman-extended Darcy equation, the relative importance of discrete heating on natural convection in the porous annulus is examined. An implicit finite difference method has been used to solve the governing equations of the flow system. The analysis is carried out for a wide range of modified Rayleigh and Darcy numbers for different heat source lengths and locations. It is observed that placing of the heater in lower half of the inner wall rather than placing the heater near the top and bottom portions of the inner wall produces maximum heat transfer. The numerical results reveal that an increase in the radius ratio, modified Rayleigh number and Darcy number increases the heat transfer, while the heat transfer decreases with an increase in the length of the heater. The maximum temperature at the heater surface increases with an increase in the heater length, while it decreases when the modified Rayleigh number and Darcy number increases. Further, we find that the size and location of the heater effects the flow intensity and heat transfer rate in the annular cavity.     

Combined convection heat transfer in a porous lid-driven enclosure due to heater with finite length

A numerical work is performed to analyze combined convection heat transfer and fluid flow in a partially heated porous lid-driven enclosure. The top wall of enclosure moves from left to right with constant velocity and temperature. Heater with finite length is located on the fixed wall where its center of location changes along the walls. The finite volume-based finite-difference method is applied for numerical experiments. Parameters effective on flow and thermal fields are Richardson number, Darcy number, center of heater and heater length. The results are shown that the best heat transfer is formed when the heater is located on the left vertical wall.     

Transient natural convection with temperature-dependent viscosity in a square partially porous cavity having a heat-generating source

A numerical study is performed on the transient natural convection with a temperature-dependent viscosity inside a square partially porous cavity with a local heat-generating and heat-conducting source. The vertical walls of the cavity are kept at constant cooling temperature while the horizontal walls are adiabatic. The discrete heat-conducting and heat-generating source is located on the bottom wall. A porous layer is located under the clear fluid layer. Governing equations formulated in dimensionless stream function, vorticity and temperature variables with corresponding initial and boundary conditions are solved using implicit finite difference schemes of the second order. The control parameters are the Darcy number, Ostrogradsky number, viscosity variation parameter, height of the porous layer, and dimensionless time. The effects of these parameters on the average Nusselt number along the heat source surface, average temperature of the heater, fluid flow rate inside the cavity, as well as on the streamlines and isotherms are analyzed. The results show that porous layer thickness and viscosity of the working fluid are very good control parameters for optimization of the passive cooling system.     

Natural convection in triangular enclosures with protruding isothermal heater

Natural convection heat transfer from a protruding heater located in a triangular enclosure has been analyzed numerically. Temperature of inclined boundary of the triangle is lower than the temperature of the heater, which has constant temperature boundary condition. The remaining walls are insulated. The study is formulated in terms of the vorticity-stream function procedure and numerical solution was performed using the finite difference method. Air was chosen as working fluid with Pr = 0.71. Governing parameters, which are effective on flow field and temperature distribution, are; Rayleigh number, aspect ratio of triangle enclosure, dimensionless height of heater, dimensionless location of heater and dimensionless width of heater. Streamlines, isotherms, velocity profiles, local and mean Nusselt numbers are presented. It is found that all parameters related with geometrical dimensions of the heater are effective on temperature distribution, flow field and heat transfer.     

Performance of suspended flat plate air heater

In this communication, a heat transfer model to predict the transient behaviour of a suspended flat plate solar collector with constant flow of fluid (air) above the absorber has been presented. A reflecting sheet with an air gap between the absorber plate and bottom insulation to reduce heat loss has been used. The effect, on performance of the air heater, of the parameters viz, spacing between cover and plate, heat capacity of air and absorber plate, flow rate of fluid and collector length have been studied. The effect of changing the averaging inlet temperature with varying collector length has also been studied.     

Investigation of mixed convection heat transfer in a horizontal channel with discrete heat sources at the top and at the bottom

Mixed convection heat transfer from arrays of discrete heat sources inside a horizontal channel has been investigated experimentally. Each of the lower and upper surfaces of the channel was equipped with 8 × 4 flush mounted heat sources subjected to uniform heat flux. Sidewalls, lower and upper walls are insulated and adiabatic. The experimental parametric study was made for aspect ratios of AR = 2, 4 and 10, at various Reynolds and Grashof numbers. From the experimental measurements, row-average surface temperature and Nusselt number distributions of the discrete heat sources were obtained and effects of Reynolds and Grashof numbers on these numbers were investigated. From these results, the buoyancy affected secondary flow and the onset of instability have been discussed. Results show that top and bottom heater surface temperatures increase with increasing Grashof number. The top heater average-surface temperatures for AR = 2 are greater than those of bottom ones. For high values of Grashof numbers where natural convection is the dominant heat transfer regime (Gr¹/Re² ≫ 1), temperatures of top heaters can have much greater values. The variation of the row-average Nusselt numbers for the aspect ratio of AR = 4, show that with the increase in the buoyancy affected secondary flow and the onset of instability, values of Nusselt number level off and even rise as a result of heat transfer enhancement especially for low Reynolds numbers.     

Simulation Studies on Buoyancy-Aided Conjugate Mixed Convection With Radiation From a Vertical Plate With Multiple Nonidentical Heat Sources

This paper documents certain salient results of the simulation studies performed on conjugate mixed convection with surface radiation from a vertical electronic board equipped with multiple nonidentical flush-mounted discrete heat sources. Air that is assumed to be radiatively transparent with constant thermophysical properties subjected to the Boussinesq approximation is considered to be the cooling agent. The governing fluid flow and heat transfer equations without the boundary-layer approximations are initially transformed into vorticity-stream function form and are later appropriately normalized. The resulting equations, along with pertinent boundary conditions, are subsequently solved using a finite-volume-based finite-difference method coupled with Gauss–Seidel iterative technique. An extended computational domain has been used to capture the fluid flow and heat transfer adequately employing optimum combination of finer and coarser grids. A computer code is specifically written for the job. Effects of modified Richardson number, surface emissivity, and thermal conductivity on local temperature distribution, peak board temperature, and contributions of mixed convection and radiation in heat dissipation have been clearly elucidated. Two correlations that help in calculation of maximum and average nondimensional plate temperatures have also been developed.     

EFFECTS OF ADAPTIVITY ON FINITE ELEMENT SCHEMES FOR TURBULENT HEAT TRANSFER AND FLOW PREDICTIONS

This article reports convection heat transfer in a short and tall annular enclosure with two discrete isoflux heat sources of different lengths. The discrete heat sources are mounted at the inner wall and the outer wall is maintained at a lower temperature, whereas the top and bottom walls and the unheated portions of the inner wall are kept at adiabatic. An implicit finite-difference method is employed to solve the vorticity–stream function formulations of the governing equations. The significant influence of the discrete heaters on the flow and heat transfer is analyzed for a wide range of modified Rayleigh numbers, aspect ratio, and length ratio (?) of heat sources. Our numerical results reveal that the average Nusselt number decreases with aspect ratio, whereas the magnitude of maximum temperature increases with the aspect ratio. For most of the parametric cases considered in the present study, the heat transfer rate is found to be higher at the bottom heater than at the top heater except for ? = 0.5. The effect of heater length ratio on the heat transfer rate is noticeable for unit aspect ratio, whereas its effect is insignificant as the aspect ratio increases. Furthermore, it was found that the maximum temperature is found generally at the top heater except for the case ? = 0.5, where the maximum temperature is found at the bottom heater.     

Magnetohydrodynamic Natural Convection Flow in an Enclosure with a Finite Length Heater Using the Differential Quadrature (DQ) Method

Analysis of heat and fluid flow transport due to natural convection and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows in a square enclosure with a finite length heater has been performed using the differential quadrature (DQ) technique. The heater with constant heat flux is located on the bottom wall of the enclosure and isothermal boundary conditions are applied to the right vertical wall while the remaining walls are adiabatic. The effects of heater length (0.2 ≤ ? ≤ 0.8), heater location (0.1 ≤ c/L ≤ 0.9), and direction of magnetic force (0° ≤ φ ≤ 90°) for different values of Grashof (10³ ≤ Gr ≤ 10⁶) and Hartmann numbers (0 ≤ Ha ≤ 100) on the heat and fluid flow in the enclosure are studied. According to the results obtained, heat transfer reduces when increasing the Hartmann number. The rate of reduction is higher for high values of Grashof number. The heat transfer rate for the heater closer to the cold wall is considerably higher than the heaters far from the right wall.     

Optimal Porosity in an Air Heater Conduit Filled with a Porous Matrix

In the present study, flow and forced convective heat transfer in an air heater conduit filled with a porous matrix with a uniform constant solar heat flux has been investigated analytically, based on minimal entropy generation principle. While trying to decrease entropy generation due to heat transfer, pressure loss entropy generation increases, which indicates that an optimal porosity value exists. The influence of Reynolds number, fluid properties, constant uniform heat flux, flow, and geometry of the system on the optimum matrix porosity has been investigated. It was revealed that optimum matrix porosity values increase as Reynolds number increases. In the range of the present study, a correlation predicting optimal matrix porosity was proposed using least squares analysis.     

Numerical investigation of pulsating flow around a discrete heater in a channel

In this study, the forced convection heat transfer around a discrete heater located in a channel subjected to laminar pulsating air flow is numerically investigated. Simulations are conducted for six different frequencies and three different amplitudes, while the Reynolds number (Re = 125) and Prandtl number (Pr = 0.71) remain constant for all cases. The impact of the important governing parameters such as the Womersley number (Wo) and the amplitude of flow pulsation (A_o) on heat transfer rate from discrete heaters is examined in detail. The instant velocity and temperature profiles are obtained to determine of the role of dimensionless parameters for pulsating flow. The numerical results show that thermal transport from the heater is greatly affected by the frequency and amplitude of the flow pulsation. The results given are dimensionless parameters.     

Acknowledgment

An experimental and numerical study has been carried out in order to investigate mixed and natural convection heat transfer in a two-dimensional enclosure. A discrete isothermal heat source is located at one of the vertical walls. Also, two ventilation ports are at the bottom and on top of the opposite wall. A forced flow condition was imposed by providing an inlet of air at the bottom port. A Mach–Zehnder interferometer was used to visualize the temperature field within the enclosure and to determine the local and average heat transfer characteristics of the heat source. Five heater positions on the vertical wall and different Rayleigh numbers (4.5 × 10⁵ to 1.15 × 10⁶) and Reynolds numbers (120 to 1600) were considered in the experiments. A finite volume code has been developed based on the SIMPLE algorithm and hybrid discretization scheme for the numerical study. It is observed that the interaction of natural convection with the forced flow leads to various flow fields depending on the Richardson number, Reynolds number and the heater position. Also, results show different trends for variation of the average Nusselt number with the heater position at low and high Reynolds numbers. An optimum position for the heat source, at which the maximum heat transfer is achieved, exists for high Reynolds numbers and has been found to be at the middle of the vertical wall.     

Convective heat transfer to water near the critical region in a horizontal square duct

Numerical analysis has been carried out to investigate forced convective heat transfer to water near the critical region in a horizontal square duct. Near the critical point convective heat transfer in the duct is strongly coupled with large variation of thermophysical properties such as density and specific heat. Buoyancy force parameter has also severe variation with fluid temperature and pressure in the duct. There is flow acceleration along the horizontal duct resulted from fluid density decrease due to the heat transfer from the wall. Local heat transfer coefficient has large variation along the inner surface of the duct section and it depends on pressure. Nusselt number on the center of the bottom surface also has a peak where bulk fluid temperature is higher than the pseudocritical temperature and the peak decreases with the increase of pressure. Flow characteristics of velocity, temperature, and local heat transfer coefficient with water properties are presented and analyzed. Nusselt number distributions are also compared with other correlations for various pressures in the duct.     

Visualization of heat flow using Bejan’s heatline due to natural convection of water near 4 °C in thick walled porous cavity

A numerical study on natural convection heat transfer of cold water near 4 °C in a thick bottom walled cavity filled with a porous medium has been performed. It is assumed that the cavity is isothermally heated from the outside of the thick bottom wall and cooled from ceiling. The finite-difference method has been used to solve the governing partial differential equations of heat and fluid flow. Effects of thermal conductivity ratio, Rayleigh number and bottom wall thickness on heat transfer from the bottom to the ceiling have been studied. The heatline visualization technique has been used to demonstrate the path of heat transport through the enclosure. Moreover, streamlines and isotherms have been used to present fluid flow and temperature distributions. The obtained results show that multiple circulation cells are formed in the cavity and the local Nusselt numbers at the bottom wall and solid–fluid interface are highly affected by formed cells. The increase of Rayleigh number and thermal conductivity ratio increases heat transfer through the cavity. However, the increase of thickness of the bottom wall reduces the mean Nusselt number. Almost one-dimensional conduction heat transfer is observed in the solid bottom wall of the cavity.     

Effects of discrete isoflux heat source size and angle of inclination on natural convection heat transfer flow inside a sinusoidal corrugated enclosure

The main objective of this article is to study numerically a two-dimensional, steady and laminar viscous incompressible flow in a sinusoidal corrugated inclined enclosure. In this analysis, two vertical sinusoidal corrugated walls are maintained at a constant low temperature whereas a constant heat flux source whose length is varied from 20 to 80% of the total length of the enclosure is discretely embedded at the bottom wall. The Penalty finite element method has been used to solve the governing Navier–Stokes and energy conservation equation of the fluid medium in the enclosure in order to investigate the effects of inclination angles and discrete heat source sizes on heat transfer for different values of Grashof number. Results are presented in the form of streamline and isotherm plots. It is concluded that the average Nusselt number increases as inclination angle increases for different heat source sizes.     

Heat transfer in a viscoelastic boundary layer flow over a stretching sheet

Studies are made on the viscoelastic fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics over a stretching sheet with frictional heating and internal heat generation or absorption. The heat transfer analysis has been carried out for the cases of prescribed surface temperature (PST) and prescribed surface heat flux (PHF). The momentum equation is decoupled from the energy equation for the present incompressible boundary layer flow problem with constant physical parameters. Exact solution for the velocity field and the skin-friction are obtained. Also, the solutions for the temperature and heat transfer characteristics are obtained in terms of Kummer’s function. The work due to deformation in energy equation, which is essential while formulating the viscoelastic boundary layer flow problems, is considered. This paper examines the effect of viscoelastic parameter, Eckert number, Prandtl number and non-uniform heat source/sink parameter on temperature distribution, wall temperature gradient for PST-case and wall temperature for PHF-case.     

Optimization of Mixed Convection in a Lid-Driven Enclosure with a Heat Generating Circular Body

The physical model considered here is a lid-driven enclosure with bottom heating and top cooling conditions, and a heat generating circular body is placed at the center. The vertical walls of the cavity are kept thermally insulated, and the top lid moves at a constant speed. The steady two-dimensional governing equations for the physical problem are transformed in a dimensionless form with dimensionless governing parameters that decide the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in the system. The solution of these transport equations is obtained numerically with the finite element approach using the Galerkin method of weighted residuals. The parametric study has been carried out for variation of the heat generation parameters, the Reynolds numbers, solid-fluid thermal conductivity ratios as well as the Richardson numbers. The working fluid is assigned as air with a Prandtl number of 0.71 throughout the simulation. Results are presented in the form of streamlines, isotherms, average Nusselt number, bulk temperature, and drag force for the afore mentioned parameters. The numerical results indicate the strong influence of the mentioned parameters on the flow structure and heat transfer as well as average Nusselt number, average bulk temperature, and drag force. An optimum combination of the governing parameters would result in higher heat transfer and lower drag force.     

Numerical Studies on Natural Convection in a Trapezoidal Enclosure With Discrete Heating

Abstract

A steady state laminar natural convection flow in a trapezoidal enclosure with discretely heated bottom wall, adiabatic top wall, and constant temperature cold inclined walls is performed. The finite volume based commercial code “ANSYS-FLUENT” is used to investigate the influence of discrete heating on natural convection flows in a trapezoidal cavity. The numerical solution of the problem covers various Rayleigh numbers ranging from 10³ to 10⁶, non-dimensional heating length ranging from 0.2 to 0.8 and Prandtl number is 0.7. The performance of the present numerical approach is represented in the form of streamfunction, temperature profile and Nusselt number. Heat transfer increases with increase of Rayleigh numbers at the corners of the cavity for same heating length from center of the bottom wall. However, the heat transfer rate is less and almost constant for the Rayleigh numbers considered. It is found that the average Nusselt number monotonically increases with increase of Rayleigh number and length of heat source. The variation of local and average Nusselt numbers is more significant for larger length of heating than smaller one. The heat transfer correlations useful for practical design problems have been predicted.     

Temperature field in a moving semi-infinite region with a prescribed wall heat flux

Steady state conduction of heat from a stationary wall to a medium moving at a uniform velocity is the subject herein. This medium can be a solid or a fluid moving at a constant velocity. The surface of this medium is insulated until a change in the surface heat flux occurs. The determination of temperature field is the main objective herein. The results show that the surface temperature begins to increase before its arrival to the heater’s location where there is an abrupt change in the surface heat flux. The application of this phenomenon to a moving wall with frictional heating at its surface and to classical heat transfer in ducts can lead to new information.