Two-Dimensional Natural Convection Heat Transfer from a Heated Plate Immersed in a Thermally Stratified Medium: Numerical and Experimental Study

The effect of thermal stratification in stable stationary ambient fluid on free convective flow of a viscous incompressible fluid along a plane wall is numerically and experimentally investigated in the present work. The governing equations of continuity, momentum and energy are solved numerically using finite difference method with Alternating Direct Implicit scheme. The velocity, temperature distributions and the Nusselt number are discussed numerically for various values of physical parameters and presented through graphs. Experiments are carried out in an apparatus, consisting of a square Perspex aquarium and heated plate. The measurements are conducted using 12 channel temperature recorders. The temperature profiles and Nusselt number for stratified and unstratified media are compared with corresponding numerical solution and good agreement is obtained. The results show that the thickness of the thermal boundary layer is approximately independent of downstream coordinates.