Affiliations: Dept. Mech. Eng., Ibaraki University, 12-1
Nakanarusawa 4 Chome, Hitachi, Ibaraki, 316-8511, Japan. Tel:
+81-294-38-5044/Fax: +81-294-38-5044, E-mail: [email protected] | Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 3607 Arahori
Narita Oarai, Higashiibaraki, Ibaraki, 311-1934, Japan. Tel:
+81-29-264-8705/Fax: +81-29-264-8710, E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: The natural convection flow phenomena that occur inside an enclosed
space are very interesting examples of complex fluid systems that may yield to
analytical, empirical and numerical solutions, and many reports have looked
into this basic problem. In the present study, heat transfer and fluid flow for
natural convection in a horizontal rectangular container with a free surface
are investigated using infrared thermography. The temperature field was
measured and visualized at a gas-liquid (air – silicon oil) interface using
infrared thermography. The heat transfer phenomena were also investigated by
statistically analyzing the temperature data. The applicability of the infrared
thermography to quantitative heat transfer measurement at the gas-liquid
interface was evaluated. It is revealed that infrared thermography is effective
not only in visualization of a gas-liquid interface but also in heat transfer
measurement. A new heat transfer correlation is proposed for the gas-liquid
interface of this flow system. The coefficient of heat transfer can be
summarized by a specific heat transfer correlation formula regardless of
several conditions, including container aspect ratio, fluid viscosity and fluid
layer depth.
