Effect of wind direction on heat loss of a fully open cylindrical cavity with only the bottom wall heated

Abstract

An experimental investigation with only bottom wall (opposite wall of opening) heated electrically at a constant heat flux was performed to explore the effects of wind directions in full range on the heat losses of a fully open cylindrical cavity. The results reveal that the bottom surface temperatures fluctuate in a small region, while the temperatures of side surface first decrease and then increase along with the increasing distance from bottom surface. The radiation heat loss is always more than conduction heat loss, but both of them are far less than the convection heat loss. Both the conduction and radiation heat losses reach the maximum value when the wind direction α equals to 30°, where the convection heat loss is the lowest. In addition, it is found that the convection heat loss Nusselt number Nuc fluctuates drastically with the varying of wind direction, while the radiation heat loss Nusselt number Nur almost keeps constant.