NATURAL CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER BETWEEN ARRAYS OF HORIZONTAL CYLINDERS AND THEIR ENCLOSURE

The natural convection heat transfer between arrays of horizontal, heated cylinders and their isothermal, cooled enclosure was experimentally investigated. Four different cylinder arrays were used: two in-line and two staggered. Four fluids (air, water, 20 cs silicone, and 96% glycerine) were used with Prandtl numbers ranging from 0.705 to 13090.0. There was no significant change in the Nusselt number between isothermal and constant heat flux conditions of the cylinder arrays. The average heat transfer coefficient was most affected by the spacing between cylinders and the total surface area of the cylinder arrays. The enclosure reduced the expected increase in both the average and the local heat transfer coefficients caused by changing the inner body from an in-line arrangement to a staggered arrangement of comparable spacing. An increase in fluid viscosity reduced the influence of the geometric effects.