• The Journal of Engineering Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 1997

Energy transfer by free convection arises in many engineering applications, such as a hot steam radiator for heating a room, refrigeration coils, electric transformers, heating elements and electronic equipments. Generally unsteady natural convection flow in a horizontal channel with arbitrary wall temperatures and the mathematical and physical basis of convection transport has been considered in general. A physically meaningful exact solution of the problem has been obtained in a closed form by the application of the standard finite sine transform technique. Influences of the governing parameters, the Prandtl number and the Rayleigh number, to bring the flow and heat transfer to final steady states have been discussed separately. For constant values of the arbitray wall temperatures and of the function, determining the average axial velocity, the final steady state is approached in different times respectively for the cases when the Prandtl number Pr>1 and Pr<1. It is also seen that the function, representing the axial temperature gradient, is influenced by none of the governing parameters : but the steady state flow is influenced only by the Rayleigh number. There are, of course, many applications. Free convection strongly influences heat transfer from pipes and transmission lines, as well as from various electronic devices. It is also relevant to the environmental sciences, where it is responsible for oceanic and atmospheric motions, as well as related heat transfer processes.