Free convection heat transfer inside square water-filled shallow enclosures

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 31;13(10):e0204251. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204251. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Experimental study on free convection heat transfer was carried out inside shallow square enclosures filled with water. Two enclosures were used with size L × L × H (m3), where L and H are the side length and the inside thickness of the enclosure, respectively. Two different aspect ratios, κ = L/H, 7.143 and 12.0 were used. Constant heat flux boundary condition was applied at the bottom surface and stream of ambient air was applied at the top surface. Different values of constant heat fluxes were used as boundary conditions. For each aspect ratio of the enclosure, average Nusselt numbers were developed and correlated with the modified Rayleigh number. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient increases with the modified Rayleigh number with observed overlapping region between the two aspect ratios. A general overall correlation was developed using the aspect ratio as a parameter. The results also show that at the overlapping zone, the Nusselt number decreases as the aspect ratio increases for the fixed modified Rayleigh number.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Convection*
  • Energy Transfer*
  • Hot Temperature
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Water

Substances

  • Water

Grants and funding

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding this work through the research group project No RGP-080”. The role of the funder is to pay for the material, workshop, measurement devices, publication charges (in case of acceptance) and some incentives to the following authors: Mohamed E. Ali, Abdullah O. Nuhait and Redhwan Almuzaiqer.