Effect of Wall Conduction on Natural Convection in Symmetrically Heated Vertical Parallel Plates With Discrete Heat Sources

The effect of heat conduction on air natural convection in a vertical channel, symmetrically heated, with flush-mounted strips at the walls, was numerically analyzed. Reference was made to laminar two-dimensional steady-state flow and to full elliptic Navier-Stokes equations on a I-shaped computational domain. Solutions were carried out by means of the FLUENT code. Results are presented in terms of wall temperature profiles, air velocity and temperature profiles in the channel. The wall temperature is affected by the location of the strip on the channel wall and maximum wall temperature is far larger when the heater is located in the upper region of the channel. Heat conduction in the channel wall lowers maximum wall temperature below the heater and the thicker the wall the larger the temperature reduction.