Abstract
Heat transfer enhancement for a laminar natural-convection boundary layer along a vertical flat plate by inserting short flat plates set in array at fixed intervals (split heat transfer promoter) has been numerically analyzed to comprehend the mechanism originating the increase in heat transfer rates. The calculated results impressively reproduce visualized fluid motions obtained in the previous experiment, and it is again confirmed that the remarkable heat transfer enhancement is due to the synergetic effect of low temperature fluid flow detouring the inclined plates and the longitudinal vortexes generating at the edge faces of inclined plates. For the heated surface of 0.3 m height, the use of 7 column split heat transfer promoters conduces to an increase in average heat transfer rate of approximately 50 % compared with that without promoter.
