Affiliation: | a Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, U.S.A. b Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University, State College, Mississippi, U.S.A. c Instructor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University, State College, Mississippi, U.S.A. |
Abstract: | Detailed quantitative information is presented concerning the characteristics of a natural convective oscillatory flow in horizontal, cylindrical annuli. This unusual, three-dimensional oscillatory flow is described by giving amplitude, period, and wave length data as well as data showing when this type of flow has its inception from a previously stable flow at lower Grashof numbers. Visualization of the air flow was achieved by the use of tobacco smoke. Annulus pressure was varied from 13.8 to 275.8 kN/m2 while the temperature difference between the cylinders was varied from 2.8 to 55.5 deg C yielding a Grashof number (based on inner-cylinder diameter) range from 290 to 2.7 × 106. Correlation equations are given to facilitate data presentation and to allow estimation of the inception of this oscillatory flow and its subsequent amplitude, period, and wave length. |