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

Natural Convection

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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
db
by 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
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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
=
T
T T

At constant P

= (T T )

For an ideal gas P = RT

ideal gas =

1
T

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Equation of Motion

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Newtonss 2nd law

Newton
Newtons 2nd law gives:
Mass

m a x = Fsurface, x + Fbodyy , x
m = (dx dy 1)
A
Acceleration
l ti

ax =

du u dx u dy
u
u
=
+
=u
+
dt x dt y dt
x
y
Forces

P
Fx = dy
y (dx 1) dx (dyy 1) g(dx.dyy.1)
x
y

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2 u P

g (dx dy 1)
y 2 x

= u
y

Momentum Equation
u
u
2 u P

g
u
+ =
2
x
y
y
x
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
The y-momentum equation results:

P
=0
y

P = P( x ) = P ( x )

P P
= g
=
x
x

u
u
2u
u
+ =
+ ( )g
2

y
y

P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD

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

= (T T )
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Grashof Number

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

2
x
y

Re L Re L y2

Gr L =

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g ( Ts T ) L3c
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.

Limits
For a vertical plate
Gr < 109 Laminar
> 109 Turbulent
Forced convection dominates
Free convection dominates

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Nu for Free Convection

Nu =

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

Ra L = GrL Pr =

g(Ts T )L3c

Pr

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.
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Vertical Plate Relations

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 Constant
ConstantheatfluxconditionforVertical
heat flux condition for Vertical
surface:Samerelationasconstant
.
qs L
temperature case Nu = hL =
temperaturecase
k

Verticalcylinders:
y

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k (TL / 2 T )

35L
GrL1 / 4

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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

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Inthecaseofacoldplateinawarmer
environment??
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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

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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
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Identifytheconditions:Ts </>T

Ts < T

Ts < T

Ts > T
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Ts > T

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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?

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Empirical
E
i i l
Correlations

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Natural Convection

inside Enclosure

Vertical enclosure Ra L = GrL Pr =

g(T1 T2 )L3c

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
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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

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Convection cell in Silicone Oil

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Effective Thermal Conductivity

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

Jakob recommends

N = 0.195Ra
Nu
R 1L/ 4

10 4 < Ra
R L < 4 x105

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
(1959) obtained correlation for horizontal
enclosures heated from below,
P.Talukdar/Mech-IITD

Nu = 0.069Ra1L/ 3 Pr 0.074

3x105 < Ra L < 7 x109

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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
Nu = 1 + 1.44 1

Ra L cos

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1708 (sin 1.8)1.6 ( Ra L cos )1 / 3

+
1
1

Ra
cos

18
L

for RaL <105, 0 < < 70

70, and H/L 12.
12
Any quantity in [ ]+ should be set equal to zero if it is negative.
This is to ensure that Nu = 1 for RaL cos < 1708
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Vertical Rectangular Enclosure

Small aspect ratio
Nu = 0.18(

1< H/L < 2

Pr
Ra L ) 0.29
0.2 + Pr

Pr
H
Nu = 0.22(
Ra L ) 0.28 ( ) 1 / 4
0.2 + Pr
L

Large aspect ratio

Nu

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Pr
Ra L > 103
0.2 + Pr
2 < H / L < 10

Any prandtl number

R L < 1010
Ra

10 < H / L < 40

H
= 0.42Ra1L/ 4 Pr 0.012

Nu = 0.46Ra1L/ 3

A prandtl
Any
dtl number
b

0.3

1 < Pr < 2x10 4

10 4 < Ra L < 107

1 < H / L < 40
1 < Pr < 20
106 < Ra L < 109

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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.
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Combined Natural Convection

and
dR
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 p
problems 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

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Combined Free and Forced

Convection
2 <0.1
NaturalconvectionisnegligiblewhenGr/Re
g g
forcedconvectionisnegligiblewhenGr/Re2 >10,and
g g
/ 2 <10.
neitherisnegligiblewhen0.1<Gr/Re

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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

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