Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-fwgfc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T00:26:19.286Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On transition mechanisms in vertical natural convection flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

Yogesh Jaluria  and
Benjamin Gebhart
Yogesh Jaluria
Affiliation:
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850 Present address: Engineering Research Center, Western Electric Co., Inc., P.O. Box 900, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, U.S.A.
Benjamin Gebhart
Affiliation:
Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An experimental investigation has been made of the processes occurring during the natural transition from laminar to turbulent flow of natural convection flow of water adjacent to a flat vertical surface where the surface heat flux is uniform. Measurements of both the velocity and temperature fields were made over wide ranges of the heat flux and at various downstream locations. Of principal interest were the definitions of the boundaries of the transition regime and their determination at several values of the surface heat flux. The interaction of the velocity and temperature fields during transition was measured. Our results show that transition events are not correlated in terms of the Grashof number G*. The form G*/xn, where n is of order ½ was found to give satisfactory correlations. Measurements of the frequency and growth rate of disturbances indicate the primacy of the velocity field during transition and show that the growth of turbulence in the temperature field lags behind that in the velocity field. The study of the turbulence growth, in terms of intermittency factors in both the velocity and temperature fields, resulted in unambiguous criteria for the boundaries of the transition regime. Our results suggest a kinetic energy flux parameter E and a single value closely correlates both our measurements of the onset of transition as well as those from all past studies known to us, for both different fluids and heating conditions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , 6 November 1974 , pp. 309 - 337
Copyright
© 1974 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Audunson, T. & Gebhart, B. 1975 Observations on the secondary mean motion induced by oscillations in a natural convection flow. To appear.
Cheesewright, R. 1968 Turbulent natural convection from a vertical plane surface J. Heat Transfer, 90, 1.Google Scholar
Colak-Antic, P. 1964 Hitzdraht messungen des Laminar-Turbulenten Umschlags bei freier Konvektion. In Jahrbuch der WGLR, p. 172.
Coutanceau, J. 1969 Convection naturelle turbulente sur une plaque verticale isotherme Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 12, 735.Google Scholar
Dring, R. P. & Gebhart, B. 1968 A theoretical investigation of disturbance amplification in external natural convection J. Fluid Mech. 34, 551.Google Scholar
Dring, R. P. & Gebhart, B. 1969 Hot wire anemometer calibration for measurement at very low velocity J. Heat Transfer, 91, 241.Google Scholar
Eckert, E. R. G. & Soehngen, E. 1951 Interferometric studies on the stability and transition to turbulence of a free convection boundary layer. Proc. Gen. Disc. Heat Transfer, London.Google Scholar
Gebhart, B. 1969 Natural convection flow, instability and transition J. Heat Transfer, 91, 293.Google Scholar
Gebhart, B. 1973 Instability, transition and turbulence in buoyancy induced flows Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 5, 213.Google Scholar
Godaux, F. & Gebhart, B. 1974 An experimental study of the transition of natural convection flow adjacent to a vertical surface Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 17, 93.Google Scholar
Griffiths, E. & Davis, A. H. 1922 The transmission of heat by radiation and convection. Brit. Food Investigation Board, DSIR, London, Spec. Rep. no. 9.Google Scholar
Hieber, C. A. & Gebhart, B. 1971 Stability of vertical natural convection boundary layers: some numerical solutions. J. Fluid Mech. 48, 625.Google Scholar
Hollasch, K. 1970 A survey of the literature, design and experimental verification of a measurement scheme for external turbulent natural convection flow. M.S. thesis, Cornell University.
Hollasch, K. & Gebhart, B. 1972 Calibration of constant temperature hot wire anemometers at low velocities in water with variable fluid temperature J. Heat Transfer, 94, 17.Google Scholar
Jaluria, Y. 1972 The growth and propagation of three-dimensional disturbances in laminar natural convection flow adjacent to a flat vertical surface. M.S. thesis, Cornell University.
Jaluria & Gebhart, B. 1973 An experimental study of nonlinear disturbance behaviour in natural convection J. Fluid Mech. 61, 337.Google Scholar
Jaluria, Y. & Gebhart, B. 1974 Stability and transition of buoyancy-induced flows in a stratified medium. J. Fluid Mech. 66, to appear.Google Scholar
Klebanoff, P. S., Tidstrom, K. D. & Sargent, L. M. 1962 The three-dimensional nature of boundary-layer instability J. Fluid Mech. 12, 1.Google Scholar
Knowles, C. P. 1967 A theoretical and experimental study of the stability of the laminar natural convection boundary layer over a uniform flux plate. Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University. (See also Knowles, C. P. & Gebhart, B. 1969 An experimental investigation of the stability of laminar natural convection boundary layers Prog. in Heat Mass Transfer, 2, 99.)Google Scholar
Lock, G. S. H. & Trotter, F. J. de B. 1968 Observations on the structure of a turbulent free convection boundary layer Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 11, 1225.Google Scholar
Polymeropoulos, C. E. 1966 A study of the stability of free convection flow over a uniform flux plate in nitrogen. Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University. (See also Polymeropoulos, C. E. & Gebhart, B. 1967 Incipient instability in free convection laminar boundary layers J. Fluid Mech. 30, 225.)Google Scholar
Szewczyk, A. A. 1962 Stability and transition of the free convection boundary layer along a flat plate Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 5, 903.Google Scholar
Tani, I. 1969 Boundary layer transition Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 1, 169.Google Scholar
Vliet, G. C. & Liu, C. K. 1969 An experimental study of turbulent natural convection boundary layers J. Heat Transfer, 91, 517.Google Scholar
Warner, C. Y. 1966 Turbulent natural convection in air along a vertical flat plate. Ph.D. thesis, The University of Michigan. (See also Warner, C. Y. & Arpaci, V. S. 1968 An experimental investigation of turbulent natural convection in air at low pressure along a vertical heated plate Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 11, 397.)Google Scholar