An Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer and Buoyancy Induced Transition from Laminar Forced Convection to Turbulent Free Convection over a Horizontal Isothermally Heated Plate

Abstract

The flow over a horizontal isothermally heated plate at Reynolds numbers below that at which hydrodynamic instabilities exist, is characterized by a region of laminar forced convection near the leading edge, followed by the onset of longitudinal vortices and their growth to a finite amplitude and finally a transition to a turbulent flow regime. Results are presented for the temperature profiles, the thermal boundary layer thickness, and the local Nusselt number. They are used to identify the various flow regimes. It was found that the transition from laminar forced convection to turbulent convection was characterized by the parameter Grx/Rex1.5 falling in the range 100 to 300. For values of this parameter greater than 300 the heat transfer rates were independent of Reynolds number and typical of those for turbulent free convection from a horizontal surface.