Unsteady Natural Convection of Heat Generating Fluid in a Horizontal Cylinder

Abstract

An analytical and experimental study has been performed to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of the unsteady natural convection of heat generating fluid in a horizontal cylinder. Experiments were carried out with dilute electrolyte which was heated by passing alternating current through. The rate of heat generation was constant and uniform, but changed stepwise with time. The temperature profiles and the heat transfer coefficients were determined with an interferometer. The governing differential equations were solved numerically to simulate the velocity and temperature distributions. From these results, the maximum temperature, and the maximum stream function and overall Nusselt number were correlated in terms of the Rayleigh number and Fourier number. The transient period, which is the time interval needed to get to a steady state, was also correlated to the Rayleigh number.