The Effect of Thermal Wall Properties on Natural Convection in Inclined Rectangular Cells

The effects of cell wall thickness and thermal conductivity on natural convective heat transfer within inclined rectangular cells was studied. The cell walls are thin, and the hot and cold surfaces are isothermal. The two-dimensional natural convection problem was solved using finite difference techniques. The parameters studied were cell aspect ratios (A) of 0.5 and 1, Rayleigh numbers (Ra) up to 10⁵, a Prandtl number (Pr) of 0.72 and a tilt angle (φ) of 60 deg. These parameters are of interest in solar collectors. The numerical results are substantiated by experimental results. It was found that convection coefficients for cells with adiabatic walls are substantially higher than those for cells with conducting walls. Correlations are given for estimating the convective heat transfer across the cell and the conductive heat transfer across the cell wall. These correlations are compared with available experimental and numerical work of other authors.