Natural Convection in a Partitioned Vertical
Annulus Khadija Choukairy, Rachid Bennacer and Abdulmajeed A. Mohamad
The paper presents the effects of partitioning in an annular enclosure on the rate of heat transfer. The inner and outer vertical walls of the enclosure are assumed to be isothermal and kept at different but constant temperatures; the top and the bottom surfaces are assumed to be adiabatic. The horizontal partition between the two cylinders is totally or partially blocks the flow. The effect of the partitioning, on the rate of heat transfer was analysed and necessary conditions are identified in order to obtain an improved heat transfer. The analytical approach showed a good agreement with numerical simulation and illustrated clearly the ability of analytical approach in estimating the rate of heat transfer and the conditions of optimal parameters. Correlations of Nusselt number, Nu, were proposed for a wide range of the governing parameters, for the conditions with and without partition.