Proceedings of International Conference on Engineering and Information Technology ICEIT2012

Sep. 17-18, 2012, Toronto, Canada

ISBN: 978-1-77136-064-7
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail: laithjaafer@yahoo.com
ICEIT-2012





Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Horizontal Annuli with Inner Elliptic
and Circular Cylinder


Laith Jaafer Habeeb
a
and Akeel Abdullah Mohammed
b

a
University of Technology, Mechanical Engineering Dept., Baghdad Iraq, laithjaafer@yahoo.com
b
University of Technology, Petroleum Technology Dept. Baghdad Iraq, akeelabdullah@yahoo.com

Abstract
Experimental and numerical simulation study for natural convection heat transfer formed by uniformly heated
horizontal elliptic and circular cylinders concentrically located in an isolated horizontal cylinder were investigated. Both
ends of the annulus are opened. Experiments were carried out for Grashof number based on the hydraulic diameter of
annulus ranges from 0.639710
6
to 5.83610
6
. The elliptic inner cylinder orientation angles, =0
o
, 45
o
, and 90
o
, and for
axis ratio of elliptic cylinder (minor/major=b/c) of 1:2, while the annulus diameter ratio for inner circular cylinder was 2. A
numerical simulation was conducted by using commercial Fluent CFD software to investigate the steady laminar natural
convective heat transfer for air between a heated elliptic and circular cylinder and outer circular cylinder. The numerical
simulation covered three inclination angles of the elliptic inner cylinder =0
o
(the major

axis is vertical), 45
o
, 90
o
, three
positions of the circular inner cylinder (center, upper and lower position) and two values of heat flux: 165 W/m
2
and 1080
W/m
2
. The experimental results showed that the heat transfer process improves as Grashof number increases and is
better in elliptic annulus than circular annulus where the orientation angle =90
o
at the same heat input. Two empirical
equations are deduced for average Nusselt number as a function of Grashof number for both cases considered in this
work. Theoretical results showed that the heat flux, the position of inner circular cylinder with respect to horizontal axis of
annulus, and the angle of elliptic inner cylinder inclination have significant effect on the physical behavior of streamlines
and isotherms inside the equivalent annular gap.

Keywords: natural convection, elliptic, circular, cylinder.


Nomenclature

b Minor axis length, m
c Major axis length, m
Dh Hydraulic diameter, m
g Gravity acceleration, m/s
2

h Heat transfer coefficient ,W/m
2
.k
L Length of annulus, m
I Current, Amp
Pi Perimeter of the elliptic cylinder, m
p Pressure, Pa
Q Heat transfer rate, W
q Heat flux, W/m
2

R Radius of tube, m
T Temperature,
o
C
t Inner wall tube thickness m
V Voltage, volt
u Velocity in x-direction, m/s
v Velocity in y-direction, m/s

Greek Symbols
o thermal diffusivity, m
2
/s
volume coefficient of expansion, k
-1

c
i
emissivity of polished aluminum surface=0.09
angular coordinate, radiant
kinematical viscosity, m
2
/s

dynamic viscosity, Pa.s

Density, kg/m
3

o
Stefan-Boltzman constant=5.668710
-8
, W/m
2
.k
4

k
s
thermal conductivity of Teflon piece, W/m
2
.
o
C
k
a

thermal conductivity of air, W/m
2
.
o
C

Subscripts
cond. Conduction
conv. Convection
i Inner
o Outer
m Mean
rad. Radiation
s solid


Non-dimensional Numbers
Gr
Grashof number =
k v
|
2
3
h o
D qr g

Nu
Nusselt number =
a
h
hD
k

Pr
Prandtl number =
k

p
c

Ra Rayleigh number = Gr.Pr
ICEIT-2012 - 75 -
1. Introduction

Natural convection in the horizontal concentric
annulus has been extensively studied due to its broad
industrial applications such as energy conversion,
furnaces, transmission systems, solar collectors, nuclear
reactors and phase change materials [1]. Many
theoretical and experimental investigations had been
carried out to study the natural convection heat transfer
in circular concentric and eccentric annuli over a wide
range of Rayleigh number and various thermal boundary
conditions, test fluids, and shape of cross-sectional area.
Naylor et al [1], NO need to bold references performed
an experimental and numerical study of natural
convection heat transfer from a horizontal isothermal
inner tube to a surrounding isothermal outer tube with
eccentric positions. Emphasis was given to the effect of
inner tube eccentricity and azimuthal angular location on
the thermal field in the annulus. Results are obtained for
air at three specific Rayleigh numbers in the transition
regime, Ra=510
2
, 10
3
, 1.510
3
. Vafai et al [2] presented
experimental and numerical investigation of buoyancy
driven flow and heat transfer in a narrow annular gap
between co-axial, horizontal cylinders. The annulus was
open at both ends through which the ambient fluid could
interact with the fluid inside the gap. Results of the
conjugate study including the local temperature
distributions, heat transfer coefficients, and the flow field
showing the interactions between the ambient and cavity
flow fields agree favorably with experimental results. Yoo
[3] observed instability in narrow annuli at low Prandtl
number. For Pr0.2, the flow has steady or oscillatory
flows consisting of multiple like-rotating cells. For Pr=0.3,
the flow has one counter-rotating cell on the top of the
annulus. Conjugate natural convection heat transfer in an
open-ended vertical concentric annulus was studied
theoretically by Maged and Negm [4]. The outer surface
of the outer tube was maintained at a constant
temperature higher than the ambient temperature, while
the inner surface of the inner tube was kept insulated.
Results show that the wall to fluid thermal conductivity
ratio has prominent effects on the steady heat transfer
parameters. Eid [5] studied experimentally and
numerically the natural convection heat transfer in elliptic
annuli with different aspect ratios. Four test specimens
having elliptic annuli cross-sections with different aspect
ratios of 0.25. 0.5, 0.75, and 1 and an annulus diameter
ratio of 2 were tested experimentally at different
orientation modes. In order to verify the experimental
results, a mathematical model in two dimensional
coordinates for two concentric cylinders was done. The
results show that the rotation of the elliptic annuli with
small aspect ratio by a right angle whenever the
specimens are horizontal or inclined improves the free
convective heat transfer characteristics. Teertstra et al [6]
developed an analytical model for natural convection in
the two dimensional region formed by an isothermal,
heated horizontal cylinder concentrically located in a
larger, cooled horizontal cylinder. The model was
comprised of a combination of three asymptotic
solutions, the diffusive limit, the laminar boundary layer
limit, and the transition flow limit, and was applicable to a
wide range of aspect ratios and inner and outer boundary
shapes. Agreement between the model and existing
numerical and experimental data from the literature was
quite good with an average difference of approximately
6-9 % for all cases examined in this work. Djezzar et al
[7] expressed the Boussinesq equations of the laminar
thermal and natural convection in the case of permanent
and bidimensional flow, in an annular space between two
confocal elliptic cylinders. A new calculation code using
the finite volumes with the primitive junctions (velocity-
pressure formulation) and the elliptic coordinates system
was proposed. Laminar natural convection heat transfer
between two vertical concentric cylinders with radius ratio
of 0.555 was investigated experimentally by Akeel [8].
Results show an improve in the local mixing as heat flux
increases. Sakr et al [9] submitted experimental and
numerical studies for natural convection in two
dimensional region formed by constant heat flux
horizontal elliptic tube concentrically located in a larger,
isothermally cooled horizontal cylinder. Both ends of the
annulus were closed. Experiments were carried out for
Rayleigh number based on the equivalent annulus gap
length ranges from 1.1210
7
up to 4.9210
7
. The
numerical simulation for the problem is carried out by
using commercial CFD code. The results showed that the
average Nusselt number increases as the orientation
angle of the elliptic cylinder increases from 0
o
(the major
axis is horizontal) to 90
o
(the major axis is vertical). Also,
two correlation equations that relate the average Nusselt
number with Rayleigh number, orientation angle, and
hydraulic radius ratio and axis ratio are obtained.
The aforementioned survey indicates that most
researchers studied the natural convection heat transfer
through circular annuli or elliptic annuli. In the present
work, natural convection heat transfer in concentric
circular and elliptic annuli was investigated
experimentally and numerically. The effect of the inner
cylinder orientation angles of the elliptic inner cylinder
with circular outer cylinder, the effect of the three
positions of the inner circular cylinder which changed
vertically upward and downward along the circular outer
cylinder centerline and the effect of the high Grashof
number based on the hydraulic diameter of annulus or
the high heat flux on the natural convective heat transfer
were investigated. We did this job because, when solar
water heaters are manufactured in small factories there
will be simple to rely on manual labor and several
eccentric and inclination mistakes were done. So, the
study shows how these mistakes effect on the solar
collectors and at what configuration is the best
convection. The primary objective of this study is to
extend the knowledge of the temperature distributions,
local heat transfer distributions, and overall heat transfer
coefficient for horizontal circular and elliptical annulus at
heat flux ranges from 81 W/m
2
to 323 W/m
2
. The present
contribution presents a simulation of the problem as a
mathematical model which was solved numerically using
the FLUENT CFD package to verify the reliability of both
experiments and numerical model and to investigate the
effect of heat flux (q=165 and 1080 W/m
2
), position of
circular inner cylinder, and the inclination angle of elliptic
inner cylinder on the heat transfer process. Empirical
correlations were deduced to generalize the experimental
results. A comparison among the present work and the
previous works in the literature was done.

2. Experimental Setup

A schematic representation of the test section
assembly used in the present experimental study is
shown in Fig. (1).

ICEIT-2012 - 76 -




It consists of the test section, an electric heater, a
voltmeter, an ammeter, an altering variance unit, certain
number of calibrated K-type thermocouples and a digital
thermometer. The test section mainly consists of two
concentric horizontal cylinders to form an annular region.
The outer circular cylinder was made of a copper of
100mm outer diameter, 3 mm thickness, and 1000 mm
length. The inner circular cylinder (specimen No.1) was
made of aluminum with a diameter ratio (Ro / Ri) of 2,
while the inner heating elliptic cylinder (specimen No.2)
was made of aluminum with a major diameter of 45 mm
and length of 1000 mm that had an axis ratio (b/c) 1:2 as
shown in Fig (2) and have three angles of orientation as
shown in Fig. (3).





The inner cylinder was heated electrically using an
electrical heater which consists of a nickel-chrome wire
, wound as a coil spirals around solid Teflon tube and is
covered by a 2 mm thickness asbestos layer, and the
space between the asbestos and the inner cylinder wall
is fitted with a fine grade sand to avoid heat convection in
it and to smooth out any irregularities in the heat flux. A
ring is used to hold and support the outer copper cylinder
with the inner aluminum cylinder centrally inside the
settling chamber by adjustable screws. Fourteen k-type
thermocouples were used to measure the local surface
temperatures of the outer surface of the inner cylinder in
both circumferential and axial directions. They were
positioned and arranged at equal angles on ten cross
sections (four thermocouples at each section). The ten
sections are at an equal axial distance of 90mm. Four
additional thermocouples were positioned at the inlet and
outlet annulus gap (two for each position) to measure the
air temperatures. To determine the heat losses from the
heating section ends, two thermocouples were fixed in
each Teflon piece. The Teflon was chosen because of its
low thermal conductivity in order to reduce the heat loss
from the aluminum tube ends. On the other hand, ten
thermocouples were used to measure the inner surface
temperature of the annulus outer cylinder. The readings
of the thermocouples are taken by means of a digital
thermometer with an accuracy of 0.1
o
C. The steady-
state condition is achieved after 3 to 4 hours
approximately. The input electric power to the inner tube
is controlled by means of a voltage regulator. Error
analysis including the temperature measurements and
fluid properties show that the average Nusselt number
has uncertainty of 4% and Grashof number is uncertain
by up to 6% of the reported values. The experiments
were carried out at closed room has dimensions (3 4 4 )
m.

3. Data Reduction

Heat transfer by natural convection can be evaluated
as follows [10, 12]:

d.-Qcond. Qtotal-Qra = Qconv. (1)

Where

I V Qtotal = (2)

Heat transfer by radiation from inner surface to outer
one and to air in the annulus can be found as follows
[12];
Fig.(3): Rotation of elliptic inner tube of annulus
with the respect to horizontal axes.
=0
o
=45
o
=90
o

3
100 100
Specimen No.1
Specimen No.2
Fig.(2): Cross-section of test specimens.
60
2
3
0

50
3
V
A
4
1
2
3
5
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Fig.(1): Schematic of the experimental setup (top vie).
16
1. inner tube 6. Teflon piece 11. extension wire
2. outer tube 7. variance 12. selector switch
3. fiber glass 8. voltmeter 13. digital thermometer
4. thermocouple 9. ammeter 14. ring
5. electrical heater 10. AC supply 15. screw 16. sand
6
14
15
ICEIT-2012 - 77 -
( )
(
(
(
(

+
|
|
.
|

\
|
+

=
) T T ( L P
P / P ) / ) 1 (( / 1
) T T ( L P
Q
4
o
4
i i i
o i o o i
4
o
4
i i
. rad
c o
c c c
o
(3)


Where, Ti and To are the average temperature of the
inner and outer cylinder, respectively.

Conduction Heat transfer from the two ends of the
inner tube can be found as follows:


|
|
.
|

\
|

=
t t
e c
. cond
A .
x
2
T T
Q
k
A
(4)

where,

Tc and Te are the average temperature of inner and
outer surface of Teflon piece.
The local convective heat transfer coefficient,
average Nusselt number and Rayleigh number can be
found as follows:

) T - L(T /P =Q h
ax ix i conv. x
(5)


2
c b
2 P
2 2
i
+
= t (6)

Tix and Tax are the local temperature of inner cylinder
and air, respectively.


}
=
L
0
x m
dx h
L
1
h (7)


a
h m
m
D h
Nu
k
= (8)

where,

Dh is the hydraulic diameter =volume/surface area.


( )
2
3
h o i
D T T g
Gr
u
|
= (9)

Pr . Gr Ra = (10)

The air properties in the above equations are
evaluated at the mean temperature [10,12]:


2
T T
T
o i
m
+
= (11)

4. Numerical analysis

The numerical model consists in a two-dimensional
steady adiabatic outer cylinder with uniformly heated
circular and elliptic inner cylinder. The length of annulus
is large enough to justify neglecting the end effects;
therefore the air inside annulus may be considered as a
two-dimensional square cavity. The numerical study has
been carried out using the commercial CFD software
(Fluent 13.0) designed for the solution of incompressible
fluid dynamic problems using with a two-dimensional
model and Boussinesq approximation for air (Pr=0.707).
The computational scheme that is used by Fluent Inc.
[13] is based on the finite volume discretization method,
which was described in sufficient detail by Patankar [14]
and Versteegh and Malalasekera [15]. FLUENT uses
SIMPLE algorithm [16] for pressurevelocity coupling.
Choudhury [17] has reported fluid flow and heat transfer
calculation using FLUENT for two benchmark problems.
One of them was laminar natural convection. The
investigation deals with the cases of heat flux q=165
W/m
2
and q=1080 W/m
2
. The analysis uses a mesh
structure with square grid size 5050. The computational
domain resulted from the subtraction of the elliptical
cylinder section from the square cylinder section. A total
number of about 26048 and 29008 nodes are employed
for the entire flow domain of circular and elliptic inner
cylinder annulus, respectively, to attain grid independent
solutions. The governing equations of continuity,
momentum, and energy can be written as follows [9]:

0
y
v
x
u
=
c
c
+
c
c
(12)

)
y
u
x
u
(
x
p 1
sin ) T T ( g
y
u
v
x
u
u
2
2
2
2
w
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c

=
c
c
+
c
c
0

|
(13)

)
y
v
x
v
(
y
p 1
cos ) T T ( g
y
v
v
x
v
u
2
2
2
2
w
c
c
+
c
c
+
c
c

=
c
c
+
c
c
0

|
(14)

)
y
T
x
T
( )
y
T
v
x
T
u ( C
2
2
2
2
p
c
c
+
c
c
=
c
c
+
c
c
k (15)

Each of the computational iteration is solved implicitly.
The convergence of the computational solution is
determined on scaled residuals for the continuity, energy
equations and for many of predicted variables. The
settings for the scaled residuals for solution convergence
are set to 10
-3
for nearly all computed residuals. The only
exception is the residuals for the energy equation which
is set 10
-6
. The solution is considered to be converged
when all of the scaled residuals are less than or equal to
these default settings.
ICEIT-2012 - 78 -
5. Results and Discussion
5.1. Experimental Part
The effect of heat flux on the average temperature
distribution and local Nusselt number along the axis of
inner circular tube are shown in Fig. (4) and Fig. (5),
respectively.


0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
z(m)
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
t
(

C
)
=81.73 W/m
o
=152.84 W/m
=229 W/m
q=181 W/m
=274.31 W/m
=120.33 W/m
q=58.20 W/m
2
2
2
2
2
2
2

Fig.(4): Temperature distribution along the longitudinal axis
of inner circular tube of annulus for various heat flux
values.

0.1 1
z(m)
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
=81.73 W/m
=152.84 W/m
=229 W/m
q=181 W/m
=274.31 W/m
=120.33 W/m
q=58.20 W/m
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
N
u
z

Fig.(5): Local Nusselt number along the longitudinal axis of
inner circular tube of annulus for various heat flux values.

It is noticed from this figure that the values of
temperature increases as heat flux increases because of
faster increasing of the thermal boundary layer (i.e.,
increasing of buoyancy effect). The temperature gradient
inside the annulus causes an upward velocity of the light
air near the inner hot surface. While, the heavy air near
the cold outer surface is moved downward. The opposite
light and heavy air movements create a complete
circulation pattern [1,11] which increases as heat flux
increases leading to enhancement of heat transfer
process. It is obvious from Fig. (6) that the temperature
values for the case of elliptic inner tube annulus is lower
than that for circular inner tube annulus. The reduction in
the temperature distribution in the elliptical tube of
annulus results relatively higher heat transfer rates than
that in the case of circular inner tube of annulus as
shown in Fig. (7) which shows the local values of Nusselt
number along the longitudinal length of inner tube.


Fig.(6): Comparison between temperature distribution along
inner circular and elliptic tube for various values of Grashof
number.


Fig.(7): Local Nusselt number along the longitudinal axis of
inner circular and elliptic tube of annulus for Grashof
number values.

ICEIT-2012 - 79 -
The reduction in the cross-section area of the elliptic
tube causes an increase in the circulation of the air inside
the elliptic inner tube annulus which increases the
upward buoyancy-driven plume (i.e., the free convection
heat transfer increases).

Fig. (8) shows the local Nusselt number along the
longitudinal length of circular and elliptic inner tube
annulus for three angles of orientations =0
o
, 45
o
, and
90o as shown in Fig. (3).


Fig.(8): Comparison between local Nusselt number along
inner circular and elliptic tube for various angles of
orientation.

It is noted reduction in the free convection heat transfer
in the elliptic inner tube annulus of horizontal orientation
(=0
o
) than that of circular annulus. The increase in the
major axis length of the internal ellipse increases the
resistance against the air plume. As a consequence, an
intense reduction in the free convective heat transfer was
noted for elliptic annulus rather than the circular annulus.
The reduction in the free convective heat transfer in the
elliptic annulus is reduced as the major axis of the elliptic
annuli rotates by an angle =45
o
then =90
o
,
respectively, results in more increase in the free
convection heat transfer in the elliptic annulus rather than
the circular annulus. This is referred to the reduction in
the resistance against upward air plume which is resulted
from the reduction in length of the minor axis.
The experimental results were fitted to determine
empirical correlations between Nusselt number and
Grashof number as shown in Figs. (9 & 10) for circular
and elliptical inner tube of annulus; respectively, as
follows:

0.3142
m
Gr 0.1291 = Nu (16)

120000.00 160000.00 200000.00 240000.00 280000.00
Log(Gr)
5.00
5.50
6.00
6.50
7.00
7.50
L
o
g
(
N
u
)

Fig.(9): Logarithmic Nusselt number versus Logarithmic
Grashof number for circular annulus.

0.2592
m
Gr 0.3354 = Nu (=90
o
) (17)

120000.00 160000.00 200000.00 240000.00 280000.00
Log(Gr)
7.00
7.50
8.00
8.50
9.00
9.50
L
o
g
(
N
u
)

Fig.(10): Logarithmic Nusselt number versus Logarithmic
Grashof number for elliptic annulus.

5.2. Numerical Part
Figs.(11 & 12) show the streamlines and isotherms for
q=165 W/m
2
and 1080 W/m
2
at three positions of the
inner circular cylinder which are changed vertically
upward and downward along the circular outer cylinder
centerline. As shown in this figure, as the inner cylinder
moves downward in the direction of the bottom wall, the
upper symmetrical rotating vortices increase in size, also
the distance between the temperature contours becomes
gradually very small. It is observed that the two minor
vortices are noticed at the lower zone of annulus when
ICEIT-2012 - 80 -
the inner cylinder displaces upward and at the upper
zone of annulus when the inner cylinder displaces
downward and at the center zone of annulus when the
annulus is concentric.
Fig.(13) shows the patterns of flow and isotherms for
the case of q=165 W/m
2
at different angle of inner elliptic
cylinder inclination. It can be seen from the figure that the
flow field still possesses two circulating eddies one on
each side. These two eddies are no symmetric at =45
o

but rather distorted. However, the flow along the inner
and outer surface is still having separation and
stagnation points (the points of zero vorticity at the wall).
The flow stagnates at the top part of the outer surface
and separates from the lower part. The points of
stagnation are usually the point of high transfer
coefficient while that of separation are the points of low
heat transfer coefficient. For the symmetric cases (cases
of =0
o
and 90
o
), the points of separation and stagnation
are located on the vertical line of symmetry. The flow at
the upper part of the annulus summon up vertically,
regardless of inclination, forming a thermal plume in the
vertical upper part of the annulus same as the case of
symmetrical annulus. As a result, the heat transfer
process reaches maximum at the uppermost vertical
point in all cases. As can be seen From Fig.(14) that as
heat flux increases to 1080 W/m
2
the eddies begin to
displace upward and the stream function seem to be
stronger because of the stronger natural convection
currents leads to more development of thermal plume in
the upper part of the annulus resulting in an appreciable
increase in the heat transfer process in this region.
On the other hand, if a comparison between Figs.(11
& 12) and Figs.(13 & 14) is made, it can noticed that an
increase in the circulation of the air inside the elliptic
annulus which reduces the upward buoyancy-driven
plume and consequently the free convective heat transfer
reduces because the reduction in the cross section area.
6. Code Validation

The present theoretical work has been compared with
bench marching theoretical results for the uniformly
heated circular cylinder concentrically located in
adiabatic outer circular cylinder by Eid [5] as shown in
Fig.(15) and for uniformly heated elliptic cylinder
concentrically located in adiabatic outer circular cylinder
by Sakr et al [9] as shown in Fig.(16). As can be seen,
good agreement was achieved between these works and
the present work for both the stream lines and
temperature contours. This validation makes a good
confidence in the present simulation model.
7. Conclusion

1. The heat transfer process improves as Grashof
number (heat flux) increases.
2. The heat transfer process in the circular annulus is
better than that in the elliptic annulus only if the
orientation angle of elliptic inner tube annulus =0
o
.
3. The reduction in the cross-section area causes
reduce in the free convection heat transfer.
4. The reduction in the natural convection in the elliptic
annulus decreases as the major axis rotates from
=0
o
to =90
o
.
5. An empirical equations for average Nusselt number
as a function of Grashof number are correlated for
elliptic (=90
o
) and circular inner tube annulus.
6. As heat flux increases, more development of thermal
plume in the upper part of the elliptic annulus
resulting in an appreciable increase in the heat
transfer process in this region.
7. As the inner circular cylinder moves downward, the
upper symmetrical rotating vortices increase in size,
also the distance between the temperature contours
becomes gradually very small.


References

[1] Naylor D., Badr H. M., and Tarasuk J. D.,
"Experimental and numerical study of natural convection
between two eccentric tubes", Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer,
Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 171-181, 1989.
[2] Vafai K., Desal C. P., Lyer S. V., and Dyker M. P.,
"Buoyancy induced convection in a narrow open-ended
annulus", Transactions of ASME, J. Heat Transfer, Vol.
119, pp. 483-494, August 1997.
[3] Yoo, J. S., "Natural convection in a narrow horizontal
cylinder annulus: Pr0.3", Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer,
Vol.41, pp. 3055-3073, 1998.
[4] Maged El-sharawi A. I. and Negm A. A. A.,
"Conjugate natural convection heat transfer in an open
ended vertical concentric annulus", Numerical Heat
Transfer, Part A, 36, pp. 639-655, 1999.
[5] Eid E. I., "Natural convection heat transfer in elliptic
annuli with different aspect ratios", Alexandria
Engineering Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 203-215, March
2005.
[6] Teertstra P., Yovanvich M. M. and Culham J. R.,
"Analytical modeling of natural convection in horizontal
annuli", American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics (AIAA)-0959, pp. 1-10, 2005.
[7] Djezzar M., Chaker A., and Daguenet M., "Numerical
study of Bidimensional steady natural convection in a
space annulus between elliptic confocal ducts influence
of the internal eccentricity", Rev. Energ. Ren., Vol. 8, pp.
63-72, 2005.
[8] Akeel , A. M., "Natural convection heat transfer in a
vertical concentric annulus", Journal of ENGINEERING,
a scientific refereed journal published by: College of
Engineering University of Baghdad, Baghdad/Iraq, No.2,
Vol. 13, pp. 1417-1427, June 2007.
[9] Sakr R. Y., Berbish N. S., Abd-Alziz A. A. and Hanafi
A. S., "Experimental and numerical investigation of
natural convection heat transfer in horizontal elliptic
annuli", Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 4(2), pp.
138-155, 2008.
[10] Shames I. H., "Mechanics of fluids", McGraw-Hill
Inc. , Third Edition, New York, USA (1992).
[11] Buyruk E., Barrow H. and Owen I., "Heat transfer in
laminar flow in a concentric annulus with peripherally
varying heat transfer", Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol.
42, pp. 487-496, 1999.
[12] Holman J.P. "Experimental Method for engineers",
McGraw-Hill, Tokyo, Japan, 4
th
Edition (1984).
[13] Fluent Inc. Technical Manual, 1998.
[14] Patankar S. V. "Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid
Flow", Hemisphere Publishing Corporation: Washington,
DC, 1980.
[15] Versteeg H. K and Malalasekera W., "An introduction
to computational fluid dynamics. The Finite Volume
ICEIT-2012 - 81 -
Method." Longman Scientific and Technical: New York,
1995.
[16] Patankar S. V, Spalding D. B. ,"A calculation
procedure for heat, mass and momentum transfer in
three-dimensional parabolic flows", International Journal
of Heat and Mass Transfer 1972; 15:17771787.

[17] Choudhury D, "Study of two benchmark heat transfer
problem using FLUENT", ASME Heat Transfer Div. Publ.
HTD, vol. 255, 2130, 29th National Heat Transfer
Conference, 811 August 1993, Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.



(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig.(11): Streamlines (left) and isotherms (right) for the case of q=165 W/m2 and at different positions of circular inner cylinder
(a)center position (b) upper position (c) lower position.


(a)
ICEIT-2012 - 82 -
(b)
(c)
Fig.(12): Streamlines (left) and isotherms (right) for the case of q=1080 W/m2 and at different positions of circular inner
cylinder (a)center position (b) upper position (c) lower position.


(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig.(13): Streamlines (left) and isotherms (right) for the case of q=165 W/m2 and at different angles of elliptic inner cylinder
inclination (a) =0
o
(b) =45
o
(c) =90
o
.

ICEIT-2012 - 83 -
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig.(14): Streamlines (left) and isotherms (right) for the case of q=1080 W/m2 and at different angles of elliptic inner cylinder
inclination (a) =0
o
(b) =45
o
(c) =90
o
.


Fig.(15): Temperature contours for Eid work [5] (left) with q=4000 W/m
2
and the present work (right) with q=1080 W/m
2
.


Fig.(16): Temperature contours for Sakar et al work [9] (left) with Ra=1.1510
7
and the present work (right) with q=1080 W/m
2
.