Numerical Study of Natural Convective Heat Transfer From a Very Short Isothermal Cylinder Mounted on a Flat Adiabatic Base

Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

Natural convective heat transfer from a vertical isothermal cylinder mounted on a flat adiabatic base has been numerically studied. The cylinder has an exposed top surface. The cylinder is relatively very short, i.e., has a height that is equal to or less than the cylinder diameter. Both the cases where the cylinder is pointing upward and where it is pointing downward have been considered. The governing equations have been numerically solved using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT©. Results have only been obtained for Prandtl number = 0.74. The mean heat transfer rates have been expressed in terms of a Nusselt number, consideration being given both to the heat transfer rate from the entire cylinder surface and to the heat transfer rates from the side and top surfaces of the cylinder. The effect of the dimensionless cylinder height–to–diameter ratio on the Nusselt number variation has been studied in detail.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
AmirAbbas Sartipi

Domed skylights are important architectural design elements to deliver daylight and solar heat into buildings and connect buildings' occupants to outdoors. To increase the energy efficiency of skylighted buildings, domed skylights employ a number of glazing layers forming enclosed spaces. The latter are subject to complex buoyancy-induced convection heat transfer. Currently, existing fenestration design computer tools and building energy simulation programs do not, however, cover such skylights to quantify their energy performance when installed in buildings. his work presents a numerical study on natural laminar convection within concentric and vertically eccentric domed cavities. The edges of domed cavities are assumed adiabatic and the temperature of the interior and exterior surfaces are uniform and constant. The concentric and vertically eccentric domed cavities were studied when heated from inside and heated from outside, respectively. A commercial CFD package employing the control volume approach is used to solve the laminar convective heat transfer within the cavity. The obtained results showed steady flow for small Grashof numbers. For moderate and large Grashof numbers, depending on the gap ratio and the cases of heating from inside or outside, the flow may be steady or transient periodic with a single vortex-cell or multi vortex-cells. The Nusselt number for the case of heated from inside is greater than the case of heated from outside. The numerical results show that the changes in the gap ratio have smaller effect on Nusselt number in high profile domed skylights than lower profile domed skylights.


Author(s):  
Abdulrahim Kalendar ◽  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

Natural convective heat transfer from an inclined isothermal cylinder with a circular cross-section and which has an exposed “top” surface has been numerically studied. The cylinder is mounted on a flat adiabatic base plate, the cylinder being normal to the base plate. The situation considered is an approximate model of that which occurs in some electrical and electronic component cooling problems. One of the main aims of the present work was to determine how the diameter-to-height ratio of the cylinder, i.e., D/h, influences the mean heat transfer rate from the cylinder at various angles of inclination between vertically upwards and vertically downwards. The flow has been assumed to be steady and laminar and it has been assumed that the fluid properties are constant except for the density change with temperature which gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this having been treated by using the Boussinesq approach. The solution has been obtained by numerically solving the governing equations, these equations being written in terms of dimensionless variables. These dimensionless governing equations, subject to the boundary conditions, have been solved using the commercial cfd solver, FLUENT. The flow has been assumed to be symmetrical about the vertical center-plane through the cylinder. The solution has been used to derive the values of the mean Nusselt number for the cylinder. The solution has the following parameters: the Rayleigh number, Ra, based on the cylinder height and the cylinder surface to fluid temperature difference; the dimensionless cylinder diameter, i.e., the ratio of the diameter to the height of the heated cylinder; the Prandtl number, Pr; and the angle of inclination of the cylinder relative to the vertical, φ. Because of the applications that motivated this study, results have only been obtained for Pr = 0.7. Values of φ between 0° and 180° and a wide range of Ra and Dh values have been considered. The effects of Dh, Ra, and φ on the mean Nusselt number for the entire cylinder and for the mean Nusselt numbers for the cylinder side wall and the exposed “top” surfaces have been examined.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

A numerical study of natural convective heat transfer from an upward facing, heated horizontal isothermal surface imbedded in a large flat adiabatic surface has been undertaken. On the heated surface is a series of triangular shaped waves. Laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow conditions have been considered. The flow has been assumed to be two-dimensional and steady. The fluid properties have been assumed constant except for the density change with temperature giving rise to the buoyancy forces. This was with treated using the Boussinesq approach. The numerical solution has been obtained using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT©. The k-epsilon turbulence model with full account being taken of buoyancy force effects has been employed. The heat transfer rate from the heated surface expressed in terms of a Nusselt number is dependent on the Rayleigh number, the number of waves, the height of the waves relative to the width of the heated surface, and the Prandtl number. This study obtained results for a Prandtl number of 0.74 which is effectively the value for air. An investigation of the effect of the Rayleigh number, the dimensionless height of the surface waves, and the number of surface waves on the Nusselt number has been undertaken.


Author(s):  
Ajay Chatterjee ◽  
Drazen Fabris

Impinging flows are widely used to enhance convective heat transfer by promoting separation, recirculation and higher rates of local convection. We consider unsteady flow and heat transfer effects in a prototypical T-shaped geometry as an impinging jet. Depending on the relative length scales, the steady laminar flow in this geometry may lose stability and transition to time periodic flow even at a low Reynolds number. A key feature of the periodic structure is the presence of ‘twin’ circulation regions adjacent to the jet column, and separation vortices anchored at the impinging surface in place of the wall jet in steady flow. The separation vortices are located above shear layers lying along the confining plane of the geometry which is flush with the jet exit. Consequently, convective heat transfer is enhanced across this plane. We present calculations to show the effect of the structure of the periodic flow on heat transfer rates across the two parallel surfaces. For a shear thinning fluid the local Nusselt number at the confining surface averaged over a long length scale (∼ 50 times the nozzle width) is more than twice as large compared to that in steady flow, while for the Newtonian fluid the mean Nusselt number increases about 60%. A mild increase in the transport rate across the impinging surface is also observed. Thus flow periodicity due to instability of the steady flow field provides a mechanism to increase the total heat transfer rate across the two surfaces.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

Natural convective heat transfer from a vertical cylinder which has a uniform heat flux at its surface and which has an exposed horizontal top surface has been numerically studied. The cylinder is mounted on an adiabatic cylindrical base which has the same diameter as the heated cylinder. In some circumstances the mean Nusselt number for the curved surface of the cylinder can be adequately predicted using vertical flat plate equations, i.e., by ignoring curvature effects, and in some circumstances the overall mean Nusselt number for the system considered can be adequately predicted by ignoring the heat transfer from the exposed upper surface of the cylinder. The flow has been assumed to be axisymetric about the vertical cylinder axis and to be steady and laminar. It has also been assumed that the fluid properties are constant except for the density change with temperature which gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this having been treated by using the Boussinesq approach. The solution has been obtained by numerically solving the governing equations, these equations being written in terms of dimensionless variables and the solution being obtained using a commercial finite element method based code, FIDAP. Because of the applications that motivated this study, results have only been obtained for Pr = 0.7. A wide range of the other governing parameters have been considered. The conditions under which the heat transfer from the exposed upper surface can be neglected compared to that from the cylindrical wall in the evaluation of the mean Nusselt number has been deduced and the conditions under which curvature effects can be ignored in evaluating the mean Nusselt number for the curved surface of the cylinder have been investigated.


Author(s):  
Abdulrahim Kalendar ◽  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

Natural convective heat transfer from an isothermal inclined cylinder with a square cross-section and which has an exposed top surface and is, in general, at an angle to the vertical has been numerically studied. The cylinder is mounted on a flat adiabatic base plate, the cylinder being normal to the base plate. The situation considered is an approximate model of that which occurs in some electrical and electronic component cooling problems. The flow has been assumed to be steady and laminar and it has been assumed that the fluid properties are constant except for the density change with temperature which gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this having been treated by using the Boussinesq approach. The solution has been obtained by numerically solving the governing equations, these equations being written in terms of dimensionless variables using the height, h, of the cylinder as the length scale and Tw – TF as the temperature scale, TF being the undisturbed fluid temperature far from the cylinder and Tw being the uniform surface temperature of the cylinder. These dimensionless governing equations subject to the boundary conditions have been solved using the commercial cfd solver, FLUENT. The flow has been assumed to be symmetrical about the vertical center-plane through the cylinder. The solution has been used to derive the values of the mean Nusselt number for the cylinder, Nu. The solution has the following parameters: the Rayleigh number, Ra, the dimensionless cylinder width, i.e., the ratio of the width to the height of the heated cylinder, W = w/h, the Prandtl number, Pr, and the angle of inclination of the cylinder relative to the vertical, φ. Results have only been obtained for Pr = 0.7. Values of φ between 0° and 180° and a wide range of Ra and W have been considered. The effects of W, Ra, and φ on the mean Nusselt number, Nu, for the entire cylinder and for the mean Nusselt numbers for the various surfaces that make up the cylinder have been examined.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
AmirAbbas Sartipi

Domed skylights are important architectural design elements to deliver daylight and solar heat into buildings and connect buildings' occupants to outdoors. To increase the energy efficiency of skylighted buildings, domed skylights employ a number of glazing layers forming enclosed spaces. The latter are subject to complex buoyancy-induced convection heat transfer. Currently, existing fenestration design computer tools and building energy simulation programs do not, however, cover such skylights to quantify their energy performance when installed in buildings. his work presents a numerical study on natural laminar convection within concentric and vertically eccentric domed cavities. The edges of domed cavities are assumed adiabatic and the temperature of the interior and exterior surfaces are uniform and constant. The concentric and vertically eccentric domed cavities were studied when heated from inside and heated from outside, respectively. A commercial CFD package employing the control volume approach is used to solve the laminar convective heat transfer within the cavity. The obtained results showed steady flow for small Grashof numbers. For moderate and large Grashof numbers, depending on the gap ratio and the cases of heating from inside or outside, the flow may be steady or transient periodic with a single vortex-cell or multi vortex-cells. The Nusselt number for the case of heated from inside is greater than the case of heated from outside. The numerical results show that the changes in the gap ratio have smaller effect on Nusselt number in high profile domed skylights than lower profile domed skylights.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen ◽  
Abdulrahim Kalendar

Natural convective heat transfer from the top and bottom surfaces of a thin circular isothermal horizontal plate which, in general, has a centrally placed adiabatic section has been numerically investigated. The temperature of the plate surfaces is higher than the temperature of the surrounding fluid. The range of conditions considered is such that laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow occurs over the plate. The heat transfer from the upper and lower surfaces of the plate as well as the mean heat transfer rate from the entire surface of the plate have been considered. The flow has been assumed to be axisymmetric and steady. The k-epsilon turbulence model with account being taken of buoyancy force effects has been used and the solution has been obtained using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS FLUENT©. The heat transfer rate from the heated plate has been expressed in terms of a Nusselt number based on the outside plate diameter and the difference between the plate temperature and the fluid temperature far from the plate. The mean Nusselt number is dependent on the Rayleigh number, the ratio of the diameter of the inner adiabatic section to the outer plate diameter, and the Prandtl number. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.74, i.e., effectively the value for air. The variations of the mean Nusselt number averaged over both the upper and lower surfaces and of the mean Nusselt numbers for the upper surface and for the lower surface with Rayleigh number for various adiabatic section diameter ratios have been studied. The use of a reference length scale to allow the correlation of these mean Nusselt number-Rayleigh number variations has been investigated.


Author(s):  
Patrick H. Oosthuizen

Natural convective heat transfer from an isothermal vertical cylinder which has an exposed horizontal top surface has been numerically studied. The exposed upper surface is maintained at the same temperature as the cylindrical vertical wall of the cylinder. The cylinder is mounted on a flat horizontal adiabatic base plate. In some circumstances the heat transfer rate from the exposed upper surface can be neglected compared to that from the curved surface of the cylinder and in some circumstances the heat transfer rate from the curved surface can be adequately predicted using vertical flat plate equations, i.e., by ignoring curvature effects. The flow has been assumed to be axisymetric about the vertical cylinder axis. The flow has also been assumed to be steady and laminar and it has been assumed that the fluid properties are constant except for the density change with temperature which gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this having been treated by using the Boussinesq approach. The solution has been obtained by numerically solving the governing equations, these equations being written in terms of dimensionless variables, the solution being obtained using a commercial finite element method based code, FIDAP. Because of the applications that motivated this study, results have only been obtained for Pr = 0.7. A wide range of the other governing parameters have been considered. The conditions under which the heat transfer from the exposed upper surface can be neglected compared to that from the cylindrical wall in the evaluation of the mean Nusselt number has been deduced and the conditions under which curvature effects can be ignored in evaluating the mean Nusselt number for the curved surface of the cylinder have been investigated.


1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. G. T. Hollands ◽  
T. E. Unny ◽  
G. D. Raithby ◽  
L. Konicek

This paper presents new experimental measurements on free convective heat transfer rates through inclined air layers of high aspect ratio, heated from below. The Rayleigh number range covered is from subcritical to 105; the range of the angle of inclination, φ measured from the horizontal is: 0 < φ < ∼70 deg. Although it was anticipated that the results might be identical to the results for the horizontal layer if one replaced Ra by Ra cos φ, significant departures from this behavior were observed, particularly in the range 1708 < Ra cos φ < 104, 30 deg ≤ φ < 60 deg. A recommended relationship giving the Nusselt number as a function of Ra cos φ and φ is reported. This relationship fits all data closely.


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