• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.169-176
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• 2000

Natural convection in a wide-gap horizontal annulus is considered, and the transition of flows and the bifurcation phenomenon are investigated for the fluids with Pr=0.2 and 0.3. At Pr=0.2, a bicellular flow pattern is observed at high Rayleigh number, and the solution is unique. At Pr=0.3, both the steady unicellular and bicellular flows exist above a certain critical Rayleigh number. For the fluids of Pr=0.2, the bicellular flow can be obtained by the impulsive heating of the inner cylinder, but it is not obtained from the zero initial condition for Pr=0.3. Hysteresis phenomena have not been observed. A transition from a bicellular flow to a unicellular flow occurs for Pr=0.3.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.755-762
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• 2000

Natural convection of air in a horizontal annulus with the inner cylinder cooled by the application of a constant heat flux and the isothermally heated outer cylinder is considered. The bifurcation phenomenon of flow patterns and the heat transfer characteristics are numerically investigated. The zero initial condition induces a unicellular flow in a half annulus. A bicellular flow consisting of two counter-rotating eddies in a half annulus can be obtained above a certain critical Rayleigh number. A transition from the bicellular to the unicellular flow occurs with a decrease in Rayleigh number. Hysteresis phenomena have not been observed. In the regime of dual flows, the overall Nusselt number of the bicellular flow is greater than that of the unicellular flow.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 1999

Natural convection in a horizontal annulus with the inner cylinder heated by the application of a constant heat flux and the isothermally cooled outer cylinder is considered, and the transition of flows and the bifurcation phenomenon are numerically investigated for air with Pr=0.7. The zero initial condition always induces a crescent-sheped eddy flow. A bicellular flow in which the fluid descends along the vertical central plane of the annulus can be obtained at high Rayleigh number by introducing artificial numerical disturbances. Dual solutions are found above a certain critical Rayleigh number. Hysteresis phenomena have not been observed.