CHAPTER 8

NATURAL
CONVECTION

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 CONTENTS

8.1 Natural Convection

8.2 Equation of Motion & Grashof Number
8.3 Natural Convection over Surfaces
8.4 Natural Convection from Finned Surfaces
8.5 Combined Convection

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 LESSON OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able
to:
• Understand the physical mechanism of natural convection
• Derive the governing equations of natural convection, and obtain
the dimensionless Grashof number by nondimensionalizing them
• Evaluate the Nusselt number for natural convection associated
with vertical, horizontal, and inclined plates as well as cylinders
and spheres
• Examine natural convection from finned surfaces, and determine
the optimum fin spacing

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 8.1 Natural Convection
 In natural convection, fluid motion occurs
Cooling
by natural means such as bouyancy. Process

 The heat transfer coefficient in natural

convection is much lower than in forced
convection.

 Natural Convection Current - the motion

that results from continual replacement of Heating
heated air by cooler air Process

 Natural Convection Heat Transfer – the

heat transfer that is enhanced as a result of
natural convection currents

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 8.1 Natural Convection
Buoyancy force: The upward force exerted by a fluid on a body completely or
partially immersed in it in a gravitational field. The magnitude of the buoyancy
force is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body.

The net vertical force acting on a body

It is the buoyancy force that keeps the ships

afloat in water (W = Fbuoyancy for floating objects).
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 8.1 Natural
Convection
 The thickness of the boundary layer increases
in the flow direction.
 Unlike forced convection, the fluid velocity is
zero at the outer edge of the velocity
boundary layer as well as at the surface of the
plate.
 At the surface, the fluid temperature is equal
to the plate temperature, and gradually
decreases to the temperature of the
surrounding fluid at a distance sufficiently far
from the surface.
 In the case of cold surfaces, the shape of the
velocity and temperature profiles remains the
same but their direction is reversed.

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 8.2 Grashof Number
 The flow regime in natural convection is governed by another
dimensionless number, Grashof Number (Gr)

 The Grashof number provides the main criterion in determining

whether the fluid flow is laminar or turbulent in natural convection.

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 8.2 Grashof Number
 For vertical plates, the critical Grashof Number is observed to be 109.
– the flow is turbulent for higher than 109 Gr number

The coefficient of volume expansion is a measure of

the change in volume of a substance with
temperature at constant pressure.

ideal gas

T is referred to average temperature

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 8.3 Natural Convection over
Surfaces
Natural convection heat transfer on a surface depends on the geometry of the
surface as well as its orientation. It also depends on the variation of temperature
on the surface and the thermophysical properties of the fluid involved.

where

 The constants C and n depend on the geometry of

the surface and the flow regime, which is
characterized by the range of the Rayleigh number.
 The value of n is1/4 usually for laminar flow and 1/3
for turbulent flow.
 All fluid properties are to be evaluated at the film
temperature Tf = (Ts + T)/2.
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 8.3 Natural Convection over
Surfaces
 Nusselt Number (Nu) for inclined plate :
 Use vertical correlation, but replace g by g cos , for  <
60 in Gr number

 If  > 60, use horizontal correlation

 Nusselt Number (Nu) for horizontal cylinder :

 Use vertical correlation if D > (35L)/(Gr) 0.25

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 Methodology for Solving
Problem
1. Find the fluid properties based on film temperature
(Tf) where Tf = (Ts+T) /2
2. Calculate the Rayleigh Number (Ra)
3. Identify the characteristic length,  (from table)
4. Determine/find from table, the right correlation of
Nu based on range of Ra obtained.
5. Calculate the heat transfer/heat loss

Usually radiation analysis should accompany natural convection

analysis unless the emissivity of surface is low.
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 Problem 8.1

A 6 m long section of an 8 cm diameter horizontal

hot water pipe passes through a larger room
whose temperature is 20C. If the outer surface
temperature of the pipe is 74 C, determine the
rate of heat loss from the pipe by natural
convection. (Ans: 443 W)

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 Problem 8.2
Consider a 0.8 m x 0.8 m square plate in a room at
28C. One side of the plate is maintained at a
temperature of 106C, while the other side is insulated.
Determine the rate of heat transfer from the plate by
natural convection if the plate is :

a) Vertical position
b) Hot surface facing up
c) Hot surface facing down

(Ans : 115 W, 128 W, 64.2 W)

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 8.4 Natural Convection over
Finned Surfaces
 Natural convection flow through a channel
formed by two parallel plates are commonly
encountered in practice
 When the plates are hot, the ambient fluid
enters the channel from the lower end, rises
as it is heated under the effect of buoyancy
 And the heated fluid leaves the channel from
the upper end

 The plates could be the fins of a finned heat

sink, or the PCBs of an electronic device.
 The plates can be approximated as being
isothermal (Ts = constant) in the first case,
and isoflux (qs = constant) in the second case.

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 8.4 Natural Convection over
Finned Surfaces
Characteristic lengths
(S fin spacing or L fin height)

The Rayleigh Number:

The average Nusselt Number:

for vertical
isothermal
parallel
plates

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 8.4 Natural Convection over
Finned Surfaces
When the fins are essentially isothermal and the fin thickness t is small relative
to the fin spacing S, the optimum fin spacing for a vertical heat sink is

The rate of heat transfer:

where

All fluid properties are to be evaluated at

the average temperature Tavg = (Ts + T)/2.

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 8.5 Combined Convection
 Forced convection always accompanied by natural
convection
 Error in ignoring natural convection is negligible at high
velocities but may be considerable at low velocities
 Criterion to assess the relative magnitude of natural
convection in the presence of forced convection is Gr/Re2
Gr/Re2 < 0.1 Negligible natural convection

Gr/Re2 > 10 Negligible forced convection

0.1 < Gr/Re2 < 10 Both non-negligible

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 8.5 Combined Convection
 Natural convection may help or give load to the forced
convection heat transfer, depending on the relative
directions of buoyancy force and forced convection
motions

 Basically, there are three types of relative directions :

a) Assisting flow
b) Opposing flow
c) Transverse flow

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 8.5 Combined Convection
Opposing flow
• the bouyant motion is in
the opposite direction
as the forced motion.
• Heat transfer
decreases.

Transverse flow
Assisting flow
• the bouyant motion is
 the bouyant motion is in
perpendicular direction as the
the same direction as the forced motion.
forced motion. • enhances fluid mixing and
 Heat transfer increases. finally increases heat transfer.
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 8.5 Combined Convection
 When both convections cannot be ignored, use the
following correlation
+ for assisting and transverse flow
- for opposing flow


Nucombined  Nu n
forced  Nu n
natural1/ n

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 Problem 8.3
A 12-cm-wide and 18-cm-high vertical hot surface in 30oC air
is to be cooled by a heat sink with equally spaced fins of
rectangular profile. The fins are 0.1 cm thick and 18 cm long
in the vertical direction and have a height of 2.4 cm from the
base. Determine the optimum fin spacing and the rate of heat
transfer by natural convection from the heat sink if the base
temperature is 80oC.

(Ans: 7.45 mm, 1.30 W)

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