Experimental Results for Natural Convective Heat Transfer from Vertical and Inclined Narrow Plates

Abstract

In Chaps. 2, 3, and 4 the results of numerical studies of the heat transfer from narrow flat plates were presented. In order to verify the adequacy of the numerical approach used in obtaining the results given in these chapters, an experimental study of natural convective heat transfer from vertical and inclined narrow isothermal flat plates in the laminar and transitional flow regions was undertaken and is described in this chapter. This study again considered a plate that was, in general, inclined at an angle to the vertical. Experimental results have been obtained for a range of Rayleigh numbers and for two dimensionless plate width-to-height ratios. Both positive and negative inclination angles, i.e., both the case where the heated plate is facing up and the case where the heated plate is facing down have been considered. The experimental results have been obtained for the case where the plate is transferring heat to the surrounding air so that the experimental results, such as the numerical results discussed in the earlier chapters, are essential for a Prandtl number of 0.7.