Free convective heat transfer with different sections lengths placed at the exit of a vertical circular tube subjected to a constant heat flux

Abstract EN

A free convective heat transfer from the inside surface of a uniformly heated vertical circular tube has been experimentally investigated under a constant wall heat flux boundary condition for laminar air flow in the ranges of RaL from 6.9´108 to 5´ 109.

The effect of the different sections (restrictions) lengths placed at the exit of the heated tube on the surface temperature distribution, the local and average heat transfer coefficients were examined.

The experimental apparatus consists of aluminum circular tube with 900 mm length and 30 mm inside diameter (L / D = 30).

The exit sections (restrictions) were included circular tubes having the same inside diameter as the heated tube but with different lengths of 600 mm (L/D=20), 900 mm (L / D = 30), 1200 mm (L/D=40), 1500 mm (L / D = 50), and 1800 mm (L / D = 60).

It was found that the surface temperature along the tube axial distance would be higher for restriction with length of 1800 mm (L / D = 60) and it would be smaller for the restriction with length of 1200 mm (L / D = 40).

The results show that the local Nux and average Nusselt number Nu were higher values for the restriction with length of 1200 mm (L / D = 40) and smaller values for the restriction with length of 1800 mm (L / D = 60).

The results were correlated with empirical equations and presented as Log NuL against Log RaL for each case investigated and a general empirical equation was proposed for all cases.