An experimental and theoretical study of natural convection in the annulus between horizontal concentric cylinders

An experimental and theoretical-numerical investigation has been carried out to extend existing knowledge of velocity and temperature distributions and local heat-transfer coefficients for naturel convection within a horizontal annulus. A Mach—Zehnder interferometer was used to determine temperature distributions and local heat-transfer coefficients experimentally. Results were obtained using water and air at atmospheric pressure with a ratio of gap width to inner-cylinder diameter of 0·8. The Rayleigh number based on the gap width varied from 2·11 × 10⁴to 9·76 × 10⁵. A finite-difference method was used to solve the governing constant-property equations numerically. The Rayleigh number was changed from 10² to 10⁵ with the influence of Prandtl number and diameter ratio obtained near a Rayleigh number of 10⁴. Comparisons between the present experimental and numerical results under similar conditions show good agreement.