DEPENDENCE OF THE NATURAL-CONVECTION OVER A VERTICAL FLAT-PLATE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE RIBS

Natural convection of air over a constant heat-flux heated plate is st udied experimentally for the case of rib elements located in a laminar boundary layer. Temperature measurements are performed using the IR t hermography technique. Experimental results are presented with respect to the influence of the conductivity of rib elements and the geometri cal parameter w/s, the ratio of the distance between two ribs to the r ib width. A commercial finite-volume code is employed in order to unde rstand the flow features around the ribs responsible for the heat exch ange in the boundary layer. The places where minimum heat transfer and flow reattachment occur are determined experimentally and compared wi th the numerical predictions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.