EFFECT OF THERMAL BUOYANCY ON THE FLOW-THROUGH A VERTICAL CHANNEL WITH A BUILT-IN CIRCULAR-CYLINDER

The flow field and the temperature distribution around a heated/cooled circular cylinder placed in an insulated vertical channel are determi ned using a novel finite volume algorithm that combines some important features of the finite element methods with the finite difference bas ed techniques. Elementwise interpolation (isoparametric) and transform ation of nonorthogonal element geometry into a square computational el ement have been made use of while solving for the integral conservatio n equations: An unsteady mired convection situation has been considere d for the study, and the effect of buoyancy on vortex shedding in the wake of a cylinder has been observed for a fired Reynolds number of 10 0. Vortex shedding is found to stop completely at a critical Richardso n number of 0.15. Below this critical value of the Richardson number, shedding of vortices into the stream is quite prominent. heat transfer characteristics of the heated/cooled cylinder are studied as a functi on of Richardson number, the results are of use in the design of shell and tube heat exchangers.