Numerical Analysis of Natural Convection Heat Transfer From a Vertical Hollow Cylinder Suspended in Air

Natural convection heat transfer from a vertical hollow cylinder suspended in air has been analyzed numerically by varying the Rayleigh number (Ra) in the laminar (10(4) <= Ra <= 10(8)) regime. The simulations have been carried out by changing the ratio of length to pipe diameter (L/D) in the range of 0.05 <= L/D <= 20. Full conservation equations have been solved numerically for a vertical hollow cylinder suspended in air using algebraic multigrid solver of FLUENT 13.0. The flow and the temperature field around the vertical hollow cylinder have been observed through velocity vectors and temperature contours for small and large L/D. It has been found that the average Nusselt number (Nu) for vertical hollow cylinder suspended in air increases with the increase in Rayleigh number (Ra) and the Nu for both the inner and the outer surface also increases with Ra. However, with the increase in L/D, average Nu for the outer surface increases almost linearly, whereas the average Nu for the inner surface decreases and attains asymptotic value at higher L/D for low Ra. In this study, the effect of parameters like L/D and Ra on Nu is analyzed, and a correlation for average Nusselt number has been developed for the laminar regime. These correlations are accurate to the level of +/- 6%.