Free convection heat transfer inside square water-filled shallow enclosures

Experimental study on free convection heat transfer was carried out inside shallow square enclosures filled with water. Two enclosures were used with size L × L × H (m3), where L and H are the side length and the inside thickness of the enclosure, respectively. Two different aspect ratios, κ = L/H, 7.143 and 12.0 were used. Constant heat flux boundary condition was applied at the bottom surface and stream of ambient air was applied at the top surface. Different values of constant heat fluxes were used as boundary conditions. For each aspect ratio of the enclosure, average Nusselt numbers were developed and correlated with the modified Rayleigh number. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient increases with the modified Rayleigh number with observed overlapping region between the two aspect ratios. A general overall correlation was developed using the aspect ratio as a parameter. The results also show that at the overlapping zone, the Nusselt number decreases as the aspect ratio increases for the fixed modified Rayleigh number.