A numerical study of three-dimensional natural convection in the eccentric annulus between isothermal horizontal cylinders
- CFD Research Corp., Huntsville, AL (United States)
- Univ. of Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
A three-dimensional (3-D) numerical study has been performed to investigate the effect of insulated end walls on laminar natural convection in the eccentric annulus between two isothermal horizontal cylinders. A strongly conservative finite volume methodology for nonorthogonal boundary-fitted coordinate grids and based on the SIMPLEC method is employed for solving the coupled system of conservation equations. Results are presented for a Prandtl number of 0.7 and an eccentricity of {minus}0.623, in the aspect ratio range 1--8 at Rayleigh numbers 10{sup 4} and 10{sup 5}. The flow and isotherm patterns are delineated to illustrate the effect of end walls. Comparisons between the 2-D and 3-D Nusselt numbers show that the 3-D effects are more prominent at small aspect ratios and low Rayleigh numbers. Typical applications include cooling of electronic components, nuclear reactors, solar collectors, and thermal energy systems.
- OSTI ID:
- 516820
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950828--; ISBN 0-7918-1704-0
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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