Free Convective Heat Transfer Structures as a Function of the Width of Isothermal Horizontal Rectangular Plates

Abstract

Results are presented for the experimental investigations of free convection heat transfer from upward facing isothermal horizontal rectangular plates as a function of the plate width. Two models of the convective fluid flow structures above horizontal rectangular plates were proposed as a result of flow visualization. Solutions of these models are presented in the form of Nusselt-Rayleigh relations with the aspect ratio as a parameter. Analysis of the visualization results provided a basis for preferring the radial flow pattern at small values of the Rayleigh number, especially for square plates or at the ends of rectangular plates, and a basis for preferring the parallel flow model at large values of the Rayleigh number. From the previous experimental results and the present experimental and interferometric studies, it is shown that the transition Rayleigh number at which the flow changes from the concentric to the parallel flow pattern is a function of the width of the plate.