INTERACTION OF SURFACE RADIATION WITH CONJUGATE MIXED CONVECTION FROM A VERTICAL PLATE WITH MULTIPLE NONIDENTICAL DISCRETE HEAT SOURCES

Abstract

Some of the important results of a numerical investigation into interaction of surface radiation with conjugate mixed convection from a discretely heated vertical plate with three nonidentical heat sources are provided here. The heat sources with identical rate of volumetric heat generation are placed flush-mounted along the plate in the descending order of their height from the bottom to the top ends of the plate. The heat sources are positioned at the leading edge, center, and the trailing edge of the plate, while the cooling medium considered is air, which is assumed to be radiatively transparent. The governing equations for fluid flow and heat transfer are initially converted into vorticity-stream function form and are later solved using the finite volume method coupled with Gauss-Seidel iterative solver. A computer code is written for the purpose. The effects of modified Richardson number, surface emissivity, and thermal conductivity on temperature distribution, peak temperature, drag coefficient, and relative contributions of mixed convection and radiation to heat dissipation are studied.