FINITE ELEMENT SOLUTION FOR NATURAL CONVECTION IN SPHERICAL ANNULI.

This paper presentes solution of the finite element method of natural convection within isothermal spherical annuli. The problem is formulated for steady laminar flow and two-dimensional case, neglecting viscous heating. The results of streamline configurations, temperature distribution profiles and local and overall Nusselt numbers are illustrated and discussed. The range of values of various investigated parameters are 1. 09 less than equivalent to Ro less than equivalent to 3. 0, 0. 02 less than equivalent to Pr less than equivalent to 10**3 and 10**3 less than equivalent to Ra less than equivalent to 10**8. Excellent agreement is observed upon comparison of the current results with the available experimental and numerical results.