A calibrated thermochromic liquid crystal technique was used to acquire wall temperature data for laminar and turbulent forced convection in an asymmetrically heated channel. The experiments were carried out in upward flow in rectangular channels with channels spacings of 2.0, 1.0, and 0.5 mm and aspect ratios of 1:10, 1:20, and 1:40. One side was uniformly heated, and the remaining sides were approximately adiabatic. The entire surface temperature field of the heated wall was acquired in one color image, and the temperature was determined by hue-based image processing. In the laminar regime, buoyancy effects elevated the local Nusselt number to values significantly above those expected for purely forced convection in both the developing region and in the fully developed region. In the turbulent regime, the fully developed Nusselt number agreed well with previous observations, but the facility produced an unexplained linear trend in a portion of the developing region of the channel. While the channel aspect ratio affected the fully developed Nusselt number, no evidence was found that small channel spacing in itself produces Nusselt numbers that are at variance with accepted values.
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Technical Papers
Convective Heat Transfer in Vertical Asymmetrically Heated Narrow Channels
Yun Chin,
Yun Chin
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
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Muthu S. Lakshminarasimhan,
Muthu S. Lakshminarasimhan
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
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Qing Lu,
Qing Lu
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
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D. Keith Hollingsworth,
e-mail: hollingsworth@uh.edu
D. Keith Hollingsworth
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
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Larry C. Witte
Larry C. Witte
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
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Yun Chin
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
Muthu S. Lakshminarasimhan
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
Qing Lu
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
D. Keith Hollingsworth
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
e-mail: hollingsworth@uh.edu
Larry C. Witte
Heat Transfer & Phase Change Laboratory, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4792
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division for publication in the JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER. Manuscript received by the Heat Transfer Division July 24, 2001; revision received May 28, 2002. Associate Editor: K. S. Ball.
J. Heat Transfer. Dec 2002, 124(6): 1019-1025 (7 pages)
Published Online: December 3, 2002
Article history
Received:
July 24, 2001
Revised:
May 28, 2002
Online:
December 3, 2002
Citation
Chin , Y., Lakshminarasimhan , M. S., Lu , Q., Hollingsworth, D. K., and Witte, L. C. (December 3, 2002). "Convective Heat Transfer in Vertical Asymmetrically Heated Narrow Channels ." ASME. J. Heat Transfer. December 2002; 124(6): 1019–1025. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1497356
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