An experimental investigation of natural convection from an isothermal horizontal plate

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · Journal of Heat Transfer (Transactions of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3250804· OSTI ID:6105949

Clausing, A M; Berton, J J ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana (United States)

An investigation of natural convection from a heated, upward-facing, square, horizontal plate to a surrounding gas medium is described in this paper. The results of the experimental investigation provide an improved correlation for the natural convection regime by accounting for variable property effects and extend the applicable Rayleigh number (Ra) range of the correlation over previous research. The large Rayleigh number regime is emphasized. The value of the Richardson number (Ri) at which combined convection influences become important is also determined. The ratio of the plate wall temperature T{sub w} to the ambient temperature T{sub {infinity}} is incorporated into the Nusselt number correlation in order to account for variable property influences. A cryogenic heat transfer tunnel, with test section temperatures that are varied between 80 K and 310 K, is used to help deduce the influences of the relevant parameters. The ranges of the dimensionless parameters investigated are 2 {times} 10{sup 8} < Ra < 2 {times} 10{sup 11} and 1 < T{sub w}/T{sub {infinity}} < 3.1.

• OSTI ID: 6105949
• Journal Information: Journal of Heat Transfer (Transactions of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Heat Transfer (Transactions of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States) Vol. 111:4; ISSN 0022-1481; ISSN JHTRA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420400* -- Engineering-- Heat Transfer &amp; Fluid Flow
CONVECTION
CRYOGENICS
DATA
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUID FLOW
HEAT TRANSFER
INFORMATION
MASS TRANSFER
NATURAL CONVECTION
PLATES
TURBULENT FLOW