INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, VOL.

20,559-567 (1996)

INVESTIGATION OF NATURAL CONVECTION IN

CONVERGENT VERTICAL CHANNELS
S. A. M.SAID

Department of Mechanical Engineering King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

SUMMARY
Using air as the working fluid, natural convection heat transfer in a uniform wall temperature convergent vertical
channel has been investigated numerically. The investigation encompassed half angles of convergence between 0"
(parallel-walled channel) and 10" and the solutions were performed for ( S / L ) Ra, range of 1 to 2 x lo4. In order to
find a correlation format which will merge the convergent channel results for low Rayleigh number ranges
(Ra' < lo2)with those for the parallel-walled channel ones, the minimum (Smin),mean (SaVg),and maximum (Smax)
interval spacing between channel walls were used as characteristic dimensions. It was found that merging was best
achieved by the use of maximum interval spacing (Smm)as the characteristic dimension. These numerical findings
agree with those for high Rayleigh number ranges (Ra'> lo2)reported in the literature.
KEY WORDS: natural convection; convergent; vertical; channels

INTRODUCTION
We report a numerical study of natural convection fluid flow and heat transfer in convergent vertical
channels using air as the working fluid. Natural convection in smooth, parallel-walled, vertical channels,
which is a special case of the convergent channel, has received attention from several researchers during
the last two decades because of interest in understanding heat-transfer cooling of electronic components.
Laminar natural convection heat transfer in smooth parallel-walled vertical channels has been investi-
gated theoretically and experimentally. Incropera (19881, Azavedo and Sparrow (1985) and Sparrow and
Azevedo (1985) are representative of the recent literature, and the citations listed there provide further
references.
The problem of natural convection heat transfer in convergent vertical smooth channels has received
very little attention. To the best knowledge of the author, the only prior literature dealing with such flows
is the experimental and numerical investigations carried out by Sparrow et al. (1988) using water as the
working fluid. They found out that the Nusselt numbers for the convergent channels could be brought
into very close agreement with those for the parallel-walled channel.

FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM

The study considers the two-dimensional, steady-state, laminar natural convection flows of newtonian
fluid (air) in the convergent vertical channel shown in Figure 1. It is assumed that the flows can be
adequately modelled by Boussinesq approximation and that compression work, viscous dissipation and
radiative transport are negligibly small. Thus the dimensionless conservation equations can be written as:

conservation of mass:
- + - s ddoyu
-du
dx
(1)

CCC 0363-907X/96/070559-09 Received 10 December 1993

0 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Revised 1 March 1994
560 S. A. M.SAID

t
X

LY-,
Figure 1. Configuration of convergent vertical channel

conservation of momentum:

conservation of energy:

The relevant hydrodynamic and thermal boundary conditions will be written for the convergent
vertical channels. Considering the limiting case of A = 0 we can get directly those for the parallel-walled
channel. The boundary conditions for the convergent vertical channel are given as follows:

the channel entrance:

i
u=o
8=0
(5)
x=o
 NATURAL CONVECTION 561

the channel exit:

u=o \
(6)

Figure 2. Parallel-walled channel data

1E+01 I 1 I I I I I I I I 1 1 1 1 1
9-
-
a
8-
1-
z 6 -
L
2 5-

_I______!
5
z 4-
c
d

W
z
a
3-
z
W
en
m 2-
L
W
y =2'
w
a - Numerical
v Experimental
1E*00 I I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 I I I 1 1 1 1 1
562 S. A. M.SAID

channel walls:
u=u=o

e=o 0 < x < cos y (both walls)

1E+01 I I I I I 1 1 1 1 I I 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 I
9-
-= 0-
7-
2 6-
L
al
5-
5
= 4-
f
al
z
3
3-
2
Q)
cn
m 2- -
al
L Y = 5'
>
a - Numerical
a Experimental
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
1E+00

F
L
2-
Y = 10'
al
>
a - Numerical
0 Experimental
I I I I I 1 1 1 1 I I
1E + O O p
I I 1 1 1 1 I I I 1 1 1
 NATURAL CONVECTION 563

In the above boundary conditions, the total stress, or traction, normal to the boundary at the channel
entrance and exit and the flux normal to the boundary at the channel exit are prescribed equal to zero. It
is not required that these boundary conditions be explicitly enforced at each node along the entrance or
the exit when using the finite elements algorithm. Instead, they are naturally enforced through the
elemental surface integrals generated by the method of weighted residuals (MWR) of the finite element
(Baker, 1983).
The parametric description will be made via the half-angle of convergence y , the composite parameter
( S / L ) Ru,,and the Prandtl number Pr. Half-angles of 0,2,5, and 10 were employed in this investigation.

-c 3 I
.- I I 1 I I I I l l I 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1

E
VI
2 -
3
5 1E.00

-
-

2 -

I I I I 1 I I l l I I I I I I ! I I
1E +02
1E+00 2 3 4 5 1 E +0 1 G 5
2 3 1E+02 2
Modified Rayleigh Number (Ra'- Smin)
Figure 6. S,,,,,-based Nusselt number presentation

Figure 7. S,,,-based Nusselt number presentation

564 S. A. M.SAID

The composite parameter ( S / L ) R a , has been used successfully to correlate the dependence of the
Nusselt number on both L/S and Ra, for parallel-walled channels (Churchill, 1977) and convergent
vertical channels (Sparrow et al., 1988). Pr was set equal to 0.72 since air was used as the working fluid.

NUMERICAL STUDY
The numerical work encompassed finite element solutions of the governing equations (1) to (4) using the
general-purpose finite element computer code called NACHOS. The NACHOS computer code is a
general-purpose computer program designated for the solution of two-dimensional, incompressible fluid
dynamic problems. The program's capabilities and organization and the derivation of finite element
equations on which NACHOS is based have been described in sufficient detail elsewhere (Gartling,
1978a, 1978b) and will not be repeated here. However, for the sake of completeness, two essential parts
of the NACHOS code (the element library and the solution procedures) will be described.
The elements included in NACHOS consists of isoparametric and subparametric quadrilaterals and
triangles. Within each of these elements, the velocity components and temperature are approximated
using biquadratic basis functions; pressure is given by a linear approximation. The NACHOS code offers
both steady-state and transient iterative algorithms for solving the system equations. The steady-state
algorithm uses the Picard or the Newton-Raphson iteration scheme. It alternates between the energy
and the momentum equations using updated values of temperature and velocity to evaluate the matrix
coefficients. All the equations that will be presented here were performed using the steady-state
Newton-Raphson iteration scheme.
The use of an iterative solution method necessitates the definition of a convergence and stopping
criterion to terminate the iteration process. The measure of convergence is a norm on the change in the
solution vector between successive iterations. The iterative algorithm is terminated after a fixed number
of iterations. The criterion is used to prevent very slowly convergent or divergent problems from wasting
computation time. NACHOS was one of the computer codes included in the contest of a benchmark
numerical solution presented by Davis and James (1983). NACHOS results compared well with the
benchmark solutions. Prior experience with this numerical scheme yielded average heat transfer results
that agreed very well with those of the literature (Said and Krane, 1990).

I 1 I I I I I I l l I I I I I I I l l I

f
a 1 2
ul
ul

1 1E +01

I ------.
I 2 I i
2

I I I 1 1 1 1 I 1 I I I I I l l
1E +02
1E+ O O 2 3 It 5 2 3 6 5
1E+01 1E+02 2
Modified Rayleigh Number (Ra'- Smax)
Figure 8. S,,,-based Nusselt number presentation
 NATURAL CONVECTION 565

A non-uniform mesh of 248 quadrilateral elements was employed. The elements were clustered near
the wall boundaries. To determine the grid size at which grid-independent solutions could be obtained,
calculations were also done on a non-uniform mesh of 364 quadrilateral elements (an increase of 46.8%).
The two grid results compared very well with each other with a maximum difference of 4.6%. Based on
this comparison and the fact that the central processor time needed to run NACHOS is directly
dependent on the number of elements in the mesh, a grid size of 248 elements was used. In addition,
overall conservation of momentum and energy was satisfied to within 0.5% with 248 elements. The
computations were performed in terms of the dimensional variables using iterative solution procedures.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this discussion, primary emphasis will be placed on the average Nusselt number for the lower ratios
(lower Ra < 10') which has not been investigated by Sparrow et al. (1988).Solutions were also performed
for (Smin/L) Ra, ranges that will provide results which will enable comparisons with the experimental
data of Sparrow ef al. (1988).
The first set of results to be presented pertains to the average Nusselt numbers of the parallel-walled
channel (y = 0). These results are presented in Figure 2 and were obtained to serve as a baseline against
which to compare the convergent channel results. The abscissa variable (Ra' = Ra(S/L)) has been used
to correlate the dependence of the average Nusselt number on both Ra, and L / S . Also these average
Nusselt number results were compared with those obtained by the following equation (Churchill, 1977):
Ra [1+ 0.019 44Raf9/*]
Nu = - -2/3
24 (8)

An agreement in the range of 2-5% is observed for the (S/L)Ra range of Figure 2. Hence, in the
subsequent presentation of convergent channel results, equation (8) will be used to represent the
parallel-channel data.
The second set of results to be presented pertains to convergent channel Nusselt number results. The
first presentation of these results are shown in Figures 3 to 5 . In each figure, the present numerical
solutions and the experimental data points (Sparrow et al., 1988) corresponding to half-angles y of 2, 5,
and 10 are presented. Inspection of these figures shows that excellent agreement prevails. This lends
support to the numerical code (NACHOS) being used in this investigation.
The second presentation of the convergent-channel average Nusselt number results are shown in
Figures 6 to 8. These results are presented using the three characteristic dimensions Smin,Saugand S,,,.
In each figure, in addition to the numerical solutions corresponding to half angles of 2, 5 and 10, the
parallel-channel data ( y = 0) representing equations (8) are shown. The objective of this approach is to
find a correlation format which merges the convergent channel results with those for the parallel-walled
channel.
The Nusselt number results based on Smin are presented in Figure 6. As shown in the figure, the
convergent-channel data deviates significantly from the parallel-channel data. These data fall above the
parallel-channel data. It may be observed that the deviation increases with decreasing values of Ra' for
the Ru' range considered. Hence, the use of Sminas the characteristic dimension does not fulfil the
objectives of merging the convergent-channel results with those for the parallel-walled channel.
Figure 7 shows the Nusselt number results in a format in which Saugis used as the characteristic
dimension. Examining Figure 7,it is seen that the use of Saugas the characteristic dimension or spacing
is closer to achieving the objective than did the use of Smin.The majority of the convergent channel data
fall within 10% of the parallel-channel data with the greatest deviation being 20%. Hence, for a
convergent channel with Suugas the characteristic dimension, the heat transfer coefficient will also be
significantly different from that for a parallel-walled channel with spacing S = Saug.
Figure 8 shows the Nusselt number results in a format in which S,,, is used as the characteristic
dimension. It can be seen that this format yields the least deviation between the convergent-channel and
566 S. A. M.SAID

parallel-walled channel Nusselt number results. The majority of the convergent-channel data fall within
5% of parallel-walled channel data with maximum deviation of 10%.
Hence, it can be suggested that, the heat-transfer coefficient for a convergent channel for half-angles
at least up to 10" can be obtained from equation (8) with interval spacing S = S,,,. Equation (81, written
as follows, will be applicable to both convergent and parallel-walled channels for the <S,,,/L) Ru,
range of Figure 8.

NUSm a x = R''s24 [ 1 + 0.019 44(Ru', -2/3

(9)
Finally, it is worth pointing that, increasing the angle of convergence, increases the average Nusselt
number for low Rayleigh number ranges (Ru < lo2). The increment increases with decreasing Ru. The
opposite could be observed for high Rayleigh number ranges (Ru > lo2) from the data given in (Sparrow
et al., 1988).

CONCLUSION
Using air as the working fluid, natural convection heat transfer in a uniform convergent vertical channel
has been investigated numerically. Half-angles of convergence in the range of 0" (parallel-walled channel)
to 10" were employed and three characteristic dimensions (Smin,Savgand S m a x were) considered in an
attempt to find a correlation format which will merge the convergent channel Nusselt number results
with those for the parallel-walled channel. The following results were obtained:

(1) Merging is best achieved by the use of S, as the characteristic dimension with an average deviation
of 5%. Based on this, equation (9) is applicable to both types of channels.
(2) Increasing the angle of convergence, increases the average Nusselt number for the Rat range of
Figure 6.
(3) These findings will supplement those reported in Sparrow et al. (1988) for higher range of Rayleigh
numbers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author acknowledges the support provided by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in
conducting this study.

NOMENCLATURE
aspect ratio ( A R = b / L )
distance between the walls of a parallel-walled channel
the magnitude of the acceleration
average heat transfer coefficient
thermal conductivity
streamwise length of the channel
average Nusselt number ( h b / k )
Prandtl number
Rayleigh number [ g p ( T , - Tm)S3/v2IPr
characteristic dimension
maximum spacing between channel walls
minimum spacing between channel walls
the average of Sminand S,,,
 NATURAL CONVECTION 567

T = dimensional temperature
Tm = surrounding temperature
T
W = wall temperature
U = dimensional velocity component in the x direction
U = dimensionless velocity component in the x direction ( u = u b 2 / a L )
V = dimensional velocity component in the y direction
V = dimensionless velocity components in the y direction (v = &/a)
X = dimensional axis in the vertical direction
X = nondimensional axis in the vertical direction ( x = x / L )
Y = dimensional axis in the horizontal direction
Y = nondimensional axis in the horizontal direction ( y = y / b )
ff = thermal diffusivity
P = coefficient of thermal expansion
Y = half-angle of convergence
v = kinetic viscosity
e = dimensionless temperature (T - T,/(Tw - T,)

REFERENCES
Azevedo, L. F. A. and Sparrow, E. M. (1985). Natural Convection in Open-Ended Inclined Channels. Journal of Heat Transfer, 107,
893-901.
Baker, A. J. (1983). Finite Element Computational Fluid Mechanics, Mc-Graw Hill, New York.
Churchill, S. W.(1977). A Comprehensive Correlating Equation for Buoyancy Induced Flow in Channels, Int. 1. Heat Mass
Transfer, 4, 193-199.
Davis, D. and James, G. (1983). Natural Convection in a Square Cavity, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids, 3, 227-248.
Gartling, D. K. (1978a). NACHOS-a. Finite Element Computer Program for Incompressible Flow Problems, Part-I - Theoretical
Background, SAND 77-1333, Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.
Gartling, D. K. (1978b). NACHOS-b. Finite Element Computer Program for Incompressible Flow Problems, Part-I1 - Users
Manual, SAND 77-1334, Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.
Incropera, F. P. (1988). Convection Heat Transfer in Electronic Equipment Cooling, Journal of Hear Transfer, 110, 1097-1111.
Said, S. A. and Krane, R. J. (1990). An Analytical and Experimental Investigation of Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Vertical
Channels with a Single Obstruction, Inr. 1. Heat Mass Transfer, 33(6), 1121-1134.
Sparrow, E. M. and Azevedo, L. F. A. (1985). Channel Natural Convection Spanning Between the Fully-Developed Limit and the
Single-Plate Boundary Layer Limit, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfkr, 28(10), 1847-1857.
Sparrow, E. M., Ruiz, R. and Azevedo, L. F. A. (1988). Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Natural Convection in
Convergent Vertical Channels, Int. J. Hear Mass Transfer, 31(5), 907-915.