The effect of transversal curvature of a vertical cylinder becomes important where the thermal boundary layer thickness is comparable or thicker then the radius of cylinder. The cylinder slenderness criterion for laminar free convection for fluids of Prandtl numbers from 0.01 to 100 is presented. The classical analysis of the laminar free convection heat transfer from vertical cylinders is shown. Some results of numerical calculations of the turbulent boundary layer on a vertical cylinder using modified integral method are given. Experimental data concerning the laminar-turbulent transition suggest that the critical Grashof number for a vertical flat plate is Gr cr ≈ 109 and for a vertical cylinder is Gr cr ≈ 4 × 109. Theoretical, numerical, and experimental data for free convection heat transfer from vertical slender circular cylinders are surveyed. A separate section of the paper is devoted to the presentation of the list of selected correlation equations. Some of them are compared graphically. In the l...

Free Convection Heat Transfer from Vertical Slender Cylinders: A Review

The phenomenon of natural convection in a square enclosure heated and cooled in the horizontal direction was investigated numerically in the Prandtl number range 0.01-10 and the Rayleigh number range 102-1011. The numerical method relied on the full governing equations for time-dependent flows. The study focused on the detection of inertia-sustained fluctuations in the flow field and on the highest Rayleigh number where steady-state laminar flows are possible. It was found that the highest Rayleigh number decreases dramatically as the Prandtl number decreases. This finding agrees qualitatively with experimental observations of transition to turbulent natural convection and with the “local Reynolds number” criterion of transition to turbulence recommended by the buckling theory of turbulent flow.

The Ra-Pr domain of laminar natural convection in an enclosure heated from the side

Effect of surface geometry and orientation on laminar natural convection heat transfer from a vertical flat plate with transverse roughness elements

An experimental investigation has been made of the processes occurring during the natural transition from laminar to turbulent flow of natural convection flow of water adjacent to a flat vertical surface where the surface heat flux is uniform. Measurements of both the velocity and temperature fields were made over wide ranges of the heat flux and at various downstream locations. Of principal interest were the definitions of the boundaries of the transition regime and their determination at several values of the surface heat flux. The interaction of the velocity and temperature fields during transition was measured. Our results show that transition events are not correlated in terms of the Grashof number G*. The form G*/xn, where n is of order ½ was found to give satisfactory correlations. Measurements of the frequency and growth rate of disturbances indicate the primacy of the velocity field during transition and show that the growth of turbulence in the temperature field lags behind that in the velocity field. The study of the turbulence growth, in terms of intermittency factors in both the velocity and temperature fields, resulted in unambiguous criteria for the boundaries of the transition regime. Our results suggest a kinetic energy flux parameter E and a single value closely correlates both our measurements of the onset of transition as well as those from all past studies known to us, for both different fluids and heating conditions.

On transition mechanisms in vertical natural convection flow

An experimental and theoretical investigation has been carried out to determine the effect of a stable ambient thermal stratification on the developing buoyancyinduced flow adjacent to a flat vertical surface dissipating a uniform heat flux. The nature of the resulting base flow and its instability characteristics, linearized for two-dimensional disturbances, were analysed for Prandtl numbers Pr of 6·7 and 0·733, for several levels of ambient stratification. Stratification was found to cause initial stabilization of the flow but later destabilization downstream. Disturbance growth rates, frequency filtering and amplitude distributions across the boundary region were calculated. These aspects of the disturbance field were measured in a flow generated by an electrically heated metal foil, with artificially introduced two-dimensional disturbances, in water (Pr = 6–7). The experimental results are in very good agreement with the calculations. Measurements of natural transition indicate that a stable ambient stratification delays the onset of transition. A tentative transition-correlating parameter is generalized to include the effect of stratification.

Francis Godaux

Papers

An experimental study of the transition of natural convection flow adjacent to a vertical surface