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Investigation of Natural Convection Heat Transfer Along a Uniformly Heated Vertical Plate

  • Research Article - Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

Natural convection heat transfer along a vertical plate with uniform heat fluxes ranging from 400 to 1000 \(\hbox {W m}^{-2}\) was investigated by using air. The local surface temperatures on the heated surface were calculated by utilizing correlations existing in the literature. Computational analysis was also performed to determine the local wall temperatures for natural convection. The results of computational analysis of the velocity distribution of the fluid in the hydrodynamic boundary layer are presented as well as the thermal distribution in the velocity boundary layer, respectively. The local temperatures determined by those correlations were compared both with each other and then with the results of the computational analysis. The local temperature results obtained in the computational analysis were in good agreement with one of those correlations and demonstrate that the increase in uniform wall heat flux causes both an increase in the local wall temperature and an increase in the velocity of air in the hydrodynamic boundary layer. It was observed that local wall temperature had risen with the increase in the distance from the plate edge.

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Abbreviations

g :

Gravity constant \((\hbox {m s}^{-2})\)

\({Gr}^{*}\) :

Modified Grashof number (–)

h :

Convection heat transfer coefficient \((\hbox {W m}^{-2}\hbox {K}^{-1})\)

k :

Thermal conductivity \((\hbox {W m}^{-1} \hbox {K}^{-1})\)

Nu :

Nusselt number (–)

P :

Pressure (Pa)

Pr :

Prandtl number (–)

\(\dot{q}\) :

Heat flux \((\hbox {W m}^{-2})\)

Ra :

Rayleigh number (–)

\({Ra}^{*}\) :

Modified Rayleigh number (–)

T :

Temperature (K)

u, v :

Average fluid velocity components \((\hbox {m s}^{-1})\)

x, y :

Cartesian coordinates (m)

\(\alpha \) :

Thermal diffusivity \((\hbox {m}^{2} \hbox {s}^{-1})\)

\(\beta \) :

Volumetric thermal expansion coefficient \((\hbox {K}^{-1})\)

\(\theta \) :

Plate angle (\(^{\circ }\))

\(\mu \) :

Dynamic viscosity \((\hbox {kg m }^{-1}\hbox {s}^{-1})\)

\(\upnu \) :

Kinematic viscosity \((\hbox {m }^{2}\hbox {s}^{-1})\)

\(\rho \) :

Mass density \((\hbox {kg m}^{-3})\)

atm:

Atmospheric

f:

Film temperature conditions

in:

Inlet

out:

Outlet

w:

Wall

y :

Local

\(\infty \) :

Ambient conditions

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, 34349, Istanbul, Turkey

    Sebiha Yildiz & Burak Başaran

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  1. Sebiha Yildiz
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  2. Burak Başaran
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Correspondence to Sebiha Yildiz.

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Yildiz, S., Başaran, B. Investigation of Natural Convection Heat Transfer Along a Uniformly Heated Vertical Plate. Arab J Sci Eng 44, 1685–1696 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-018-3654-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-018-3654-8

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