Numerical investigation of a thermosiphon flow in a cylindrical enclosure with non-uniform boundary conditions

Abstract

Abstract This research investigates the natural convection heat transfer phenomenon (“thermosiphon”) in a cylindrical enclosure with non-uniform boundary conditions, i.e., there is a peripheral temperature distribution along the inner hot cylinder while the outer cold cylinder remains at constant temperature. The analysis was performed using Finite Element Analysis method (FEA). The flow field parameters (temperature, velocity) and the overall heat transfer were analyzed and compared to the case of uniform boundary conditions. A correction factor has been proposed in order to use the classical empirical correlation for uniform boundary conditions with non-uniform boundary conditions. The primary insight of this research is that non-uniform boundary conditions enhance the heat transfer in the enclosure by up to 7%, depending on the non-uniformity of the hot wall temperature.