NATURAL/FREE CONVECTION

Prabal Talukdar
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT Delhi
E-mail: prabal@mech.iitd.ac.in
p
 Natural/free
convection

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 2
 Natural Convection

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 3
 Buoyancy Force
The upward force exerted by a fluid on a body completely or partially
immersed in it is called the buoyancy force. The magnitude of the
b
buoyancy fforce is
i equall tto th
the weight
i ht off th
the flfluid
id di
displaced
l dbby th
the b
body
d
F = fluidgVbody

Fnet = W Fbouyancy
= bodygVbody - fluidgVbody
= (body - fluid)g
)gVbody

It is
i the
th buoyancy
b fforce that
th t keeps
k the
th ships
hi afloat
fl t
in water (W = Fbuoyancy ) for floating objects
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 4
 Volume Expansion Coefficient
The coefficient of volume expansion
is a measure of the change in volume of a
substance with temperature at constant
pressure

1 1
= =
T P T P

1 1
= At constant P
T T T

= (T T )

For an ideal gas P = RT

1
ideal gas =
T
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 5
Equation of Motion

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 6
 Newtonss 2nd law
Newton
Newtons 2nd law gives: m a x = Fsurface, x + Fbodyy , x
Mass m = (dx dy 1)
A
Acceleration
l ti
du u dx u dy u u
ax = = + =u +
dt x dt y dt x y
Forces
P
Fx = dy y (dx 1) dx (dyy 1) g(dx.dyy.1)
y x
2 u P

=
g (dx dy 1)
y 2 x

= u
y
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 7
 Momentum Equation
u u 2 u P
u + = g
x y x
2
y
The x-momentum equation for the quiescent field outside the boundary
layer can be found by applying the above equation as u = 0

P
= g
x
P
The y-momentum equation results: =0 P = P( x ) = P ( x )
y
P P
= = g
x x

u u 2u
u + = + ( )g
x y y 2

u u 2u = (T T )
u + = + g(T T )
x y 2
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD y 8
 Grashof Number

u
g(Ts T )L3c T
u 1 2u
u +v = 2 +

x y 2
Re L Re L y2

g ( Ts T ) L3c
Gr L =
2

The Grashof number Gr is a measure

of the relative magnitudes of the buoyancy
force and the opposing viscous force
acting on the fluid.
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 9
 Limits

For a vertical plate

Gr < 109 Laminar

> 109 Turbulent

Forced convection dominates

Free convection dominates

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 10
 Nu for Free Convection

hL c
Nu = = C(GrL Pr) n = CRa nL
k

g(Ts T )L3c
Ra L = GrL Pr = Pr
2

Values of n and C depend on g geometry

y
of the surface and flow regime

The value of n is usually for laminar flow and 1/3 for turbulent flow. The
value of the constant C is normally less than 1
1.

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 11
 Vertical Plate Relations

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 12
 Constant
ConstantheatfluxconditionforVertical
heat flux condition for Vertical
surface:Samerelationasconstant.
temperature case Nu = hL =
temperaturecase qs L
k k (TL / 2 T )

35L
Verticalcylinders:
y D
GrL1 / 4

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 13
 Inclined Hot Plate
Inclinedhotplatethatmakes
ananglefromtheverticalina
coolerenvironment.
ThenetforceF=g( )
(the difference between the
(thedifferencebetweenthe
buoyancyandgravity)acting
onaunitvolumeofthefluid
intheboundarylayerisalways
intheverticaldirection
The reason for this curious behavior for the upper surface is that the force
component Fy initiates upward motion in addition to the parallel motion
along the plate, and thus the boundary layer breaks up and forms
plumes, as shown in the figure
Inthecaseofacoldplateinawarmer
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD
environment?? 14
 Inclined Plate Use vertical plate equations for the
upper surface of a cold plate and the
lower surface of a hot plate L.

Replace g by g cos for Ra < 109

and < 60

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD
 Horizontal Surface
For a hot surface in a cooler
environment, the net force acts
upward, forcing the heated fluid
to rise.

If the hot surface is facing

upward, the heated fluid rises
freely, inducing strong natural
convection currents and thus
effective heat transfer.

Butt if the
B th hot
h t surface
f is
i facing
f i
downward, the plate will block
the heated fluid that tends to rise
(except near the edges)
edges), impeding
heat transfer
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 16
Identifytheconditions:Ts </>T

Ts < T Ts < T

Ts > T
Ts > T
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 17
Horizontal sphere and cylinder

The local Nusselt number is highest at the

bottom, and lowest at the top of the
cylinder when the boundary layer flow
remains laminar

What will happen for a cold cylinder?

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 18
 Empirical
E i i l
Correlations

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 19
 Natural Convection inside Enclosure

g(T1 T2 )L3c
Vertical enclosure Ra L = GrL Pr = 2
Pr
Horizontal enclosure

Initially, the heat transfer is by pure conduction and Nu = 1.

When Ra > 1708, the buoyant force overcomes the fluid resistance and initiates
natural convection currents,, which are observed to be in the form of hexagonal
g
cells called Bnard cells.
For Ra > 3 x 105, the cells break down and the fluid motion becomes turbulent
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 20
 Rayleigh Bnard Convection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb_pHQzEFJg

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 (a) Formation of evolutional hexagonal structures for Ra = 2x105, Pr = 2.0.
Temperature and vector-field. (b) Comparison of temperature field between
numerical solution (lines) and results (dots) in the middle plane. for Ra =
2.5x105 Pr = 1.5
N.M. Evstigneev
g , N.A. Magnitskii
g , S.V. Sidorov,, Nonlinear dynamics
y of laminar-turbulent transition in three dimensional
Rayleigh?Benard convection, Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation Volume 15, Issue 10 2010 2851
2859
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cnsns.2009.10.022

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 22
 Convection cell in Silicone Oil

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 23
 Effective Thermal Conductivity

& = hA (T T ) = kNuA T1 T2
Q s 1 2 s
Lc

& T1 T2
Q cond = kA s
Lc

The fluid in an enclosure behaves like a fluid

whose thermal conductivity is kNu as a result of
convection currents.

Therefore, the quantity kNu is called

the effective thermal conductivity of the
enclosure.
keff = kNu
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 24
Horizontal Rectangular Enclosure

Hot plate at the top : Nu = ?

Hot plate at the bottom: Significant
convective current occurs when Ra > 1708

For horizontal enclosures that contain air, R 1L/ 4

N = 0.195Ra
Nu 10 4 < Ra
R L < 4 x105
Jakob recommends Nu = 0.068Ra1L/ 3 4 x105 < Ra L < 107

can also be used for other g

gases
with 0.5 < Pr < 2.
Using water, silicone oil, and mercury in
their experiments, Globe and Dropkin
Nu = 0.069Ra1L/ 3 Pr 0.074 3x105 < Ra L < 7 x109
(1959) obtained correlation for horizontal
enclosures heated from below,
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 25
 Inclined Rectangular Enclosure
Example:
Air
Ai spaces between
b t two
t inclined
i li d parallel
ll l
plates
flat-plate solar collectors (between the
glass cover and the absorber p
g plate)) and
the double-pane skylights on inclined
roofs

For large aspect ratios (H/L > 12),

12) this
equation correlates experimental data
extremely well for tilt angles up to 70,
+ +
1708 1708 (sin 1.8)1.6 ( Ra L cos )1 / 3
Nu = 1 + 1.44 1 1 + 1

Ra L cos Ra L cos 18

for RaL <105, 0 < < 7070, and H/L 12.

12
Any quantity in [ ]+ should be set equal to zero if it is negative.
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD This is to ensure that Nu = 1 for RaL cos < 1708 26
Vertical Rectangular Enclosure
Small aspect ratio 1< H/L < 2
Pr A prandtl
Any dtl number
b
Nu = 0.18( Ra L ) 0.29
0.2 + Pr Pr
Ra L > 103
0.2 + Pr

2 < H / L < 10
Pr H
Nu = 0.22( Ra L ) 0.28 ( ) 1 / 4 Any prandtl number
0.2 + Pr L
R L < 1010
Ra

Large aspect ratio

10 < H / L < 40
0.3
H 1 < Pr < 2x10 4
Nu = 0.42Ra1L/ 4 Pr 0.012
L 10 4 < Ra L < 107

1 < H / L < 40
Nu = 0.46Ra1L/ 3 1 < Pr < 20
106 < Ra L < 109
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 27
 Concentric Cylinders and
Spheres

Raithby and Hollands (1975):

Lc = (Do - Di)/2.
)/2

for 0.70 Pr 6000 and 102 FcylRaL 107.

For FcylRaL 100, natural convection currents
are negligible and thus keff = k.

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 28
 Combined Natural Convection
anddR
Radiation
di i
Natural convection heat transfer coefficients are typically very
low compared to those for forced convection. Therefore, radiation
is usually disregarded in forced convection problems, but it must
be considered in natural convection pproblems that involve a g gas.

This is especially the case for surfaces with high emissivities. For
example, about half of the heat transfer through the air space of a
double pane window is by radiation

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 29
 Combined Free and Forced
Convection
NaturalconvectionisnegligiblewhenGr/Re
g g 2 <0.1

forcedconvectionisnegligiblewhenGr/Re2 >10,and
g g / 2 <10.
neitherisnegligiblewhen0.1<Gr/Re

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 30
A review of experimental data suggests a correlation of the form

Nu combined = (Nunforced Nunnatural)1/n

The value of the exponent n varies

between 3 and 4 4, depending on the Determined from pure forced and
geometry involved. It is observed that n natural convection correlations
= 3 correlates experimental data for
vertical surfaces well. Larger values of n
are better suited for horizontal surfaces

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD 31