The natural convection of a horizontal layer heated from below in a three-dimensional rectangular enclosure was dealt with both numerically and experimentally. The aspect ratios are 1:2:3.5 and Boussinesq fluid is water with the Prandtl number of 5.0. This experimental study showed how to measure the variation of temperature field in a 3-D rectangular enclosure with small aspect ratios by using TLC(Thermochromic Liquid Crystal) and color capturing technique. The experimental temperature field had periodic characteristics of 75 sec at Ra=2.37*10 . But the numerical convection flow had periodic characteristics of 79 sec at the same Rayleigh number. In three dimensional computation it was found that the convection roll structure bifurcated from four rolls to two rolls as the Rayleigh number is increased.
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