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Experimental study of the turbulent free convection over horizontal smooth or grooved surfaces in an open cavity

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Abstract

This study investigates the turbulent free convection in a tank of water with the bottom surface being a smooth or a grooved surface and the top of the water surface exposed to ambient. The experiments for smooth surface was done with four values of AR, 3, 2, 1 and 0.5, whereas for grooved surface, values of AR are 3, 2 and 1. Here AR is the aspect ratio (=width of fluid layer/height of fluid layer). Heat flux at the bottom surface was from electrical heating. Experiments have been carried out for modified Rayleigh number in the range of \(2.5 \times 10^{8}\le Ra\le 3 \times 10^{12}\). The experimental results indicate that AR has significant effect on heat transport and hence sensitive to the nature and structures of the large scale mean flows of the system.

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Abbreviations

\(A_{p}\) :

Cross-sectional area of the plates

\(AR\) :

Aspect ratio = width of the water layer/height of the water layer

\(D\) :

Height of the water layer

\(g\) :

Acceleration due to gravity

\(h_{R}\) :

Groove height

\(k\) :

Thermal conductivity of water layer

\(Q_{h}\) :

Heat input from heater

\(q_{h}\) :

Heat flux from heater

\(Q_{b}\) :

Heat output to the water

\(q_{b}\) :

Heat flux entering the cell \(=Q_{b}/A_{p}\)

\(Ra\) :

Rayleigh number based on water layer height\(\,=g\beta \Delta {T}D^{3}/\nu \alpha\).

\(Ra^{*}\) :

Modified Rayleigh number \(=g\beta q_{b} D^{4}/(\nu \alpha k)\).

\(Nu\) :

Nusselt number \(=D/\delta _{T}\)

\(T_{b}\) :

Temperature of the plate next to the water

\(T_{0}\) :

Temperature of core of the water layer

\(\alpha\) :

Thermal diffusivity

\(\beta\) :

Isobaric thermal expansion coefficient

\(\delta _{T}\) :

Thermal boundary layer thickness

\(\delta _{u}\) :

Viscous boundary layer thickness

\(\lambda _{R}\) :

Groove spacing

\(\nu\) :

Kinematic viscosity

\(\Delta {T}\) :

Temperature difference between the bottom plate and core of the water layer \(=(T_{b}-T_{0})\)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Calicut, India

    L Gangadhara Kiran Kumar & Shailesh Ranjan Kumar

  2. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India

    Sudhakar Subudhi

Authors
  1. L Gangadhara Kiran Kumar
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  2. Shailesh Ranjan Kumar
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  3. Sudhakar Subudhi
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Correspondence to Sudhakar Subudhi.

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Kumar, L.G.K., Kumar, S.R. & Subudhi, S. Experimental study of the turbulent free convection over horizontal smooth or grooved surfaces in an open cavity. Heat Mass Transfer 52, 245–253 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-015-1559-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-015-1559-6

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