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Experimental and numerical study on laminar natural convection in a cavity heated from bottom due to an inclined fin

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Abstract

Natural convection heat transfer in an inclined fin attached square enclosure is studied both experimentally and numerically. Bottom wall of enclosure has higher temperature than that of top wall while vertical walls are adiabatic. Inclined fin has also adiabatic boundary conditions. Numerical solutions have been done by writing a computer code in Fortran platform and results are compared with Fluent commercial code and experimental method. Governing parameters are Rayleigh numbers (8.105 ≤ Ra ≤ 4 × 106) and inclination angle (30° ≤ and ≤ 120°). The temperature measurements are done by using thermocouples distributed uniformly at the wall of the enclosure. Remarkably good agreement is obtained between the predicted results and experimental data. A correlation is also developed including all effective parameters on heat transfer and fluid flow. It was observed that heat transfer can be controlled by attaching an inclined fin onto wall.

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Abbreviations

G :

Gravitational acceleration, m/s2

Gr :

Grashof number

h :

Dimensionless baffle location

H :

Height of enclosure, m

L :

Lenght of enclosure, m

Nu x :

Local Nusselt number

Nu :

Average Nusselt number

Pr :

Prandtl number

Ra :

Rayleigh number

RK:

Ratio of thermal conductivity, ks/kf

t :

Dimensionless baffle thickness

T :

Fluid temperature, K

T h :

Bottom temperature of enclosure, K

T c :

Upper temperature of enclosure, K

u,v :

Axial and radial velocities, m/s2

U,V :

Dimensionless axial and radial velocities

x,y :

Cartesian coordinates, m

X,Y :

Non-dimensional coordinates

W :

Dimensionless baffle location of x direction, m

α :

Thermal diffusivity, m2/s

β :

Thermal expansion coefficient, 1/K

ν :

Kinematic viscosity, m2/s

θ :

Non-dimensional temperature

ϕ :

Baffle inclination angle

ψ :

Streamfunction

Ψ:

Non-dimensional streamfunction

Ω:

Non-dimensional vorticity

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank to Firat University Scientific Research Foundation to support this work. Second author also thank to King Saud University during to supporting of Visiting Professor Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technology Faculty, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey

    Yasin Varol & Hakan F. Öztop

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Hakan F. Öztop

  3. Department of Mechanical Education, Firat University, 23119, Elazig, Turkey

    Filiz Özgen

  4. Technical Vocational School, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey

    Ahmet Koca

Authors
  1. Yasin Varol
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  2. Hakan F. Öztop
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  3. Filiz Özgen
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  4. Ahmet Koca
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Correspondence to Hakan F. Öztop.

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Varol, Y., Öztop, H.F., Özgen, F. et al. Experimental and numerical study on laminar natural convection in a cavity heated from bottom due to an inclined fin. Heat Mass Transfer 48, 61–70 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-011-0843-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-011-0843-3

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