Transient Natural Convection in Enclosures at High Rayleigh Number

Abstract

Transient natural convection at Rayleigh numbers of 1010 was studied experimentally in two enclosures of aspect ratio 1/3, one a 1:5.5 physical scale model containing the dense refrigerant gas R114, and the second a full-scale room containing air. In one type of transient the vertical endwall temperature was suddenly changed, while in a second type of transient the isothermal, well-mixed gas was suddenly exposed to hot and cold vertical endwalls. The experiments indicated that the dominant time constant was a convective one. Comparisons between the scale model and full scale show that R114 gas can simulate the transient behavior of air-filled enclosures.