Experimental results on free convection in a vertical annulus filled with a saturated porous medium are reported for height-to-gap ratios of 1.46, 1 and 0.545, and radius ratio of 5.338. In these experiments, the inner and outer walls are maintained at constant temperatures. The use of several fluid–solid combinations indicates a divergence in the Nusselt-number–Rayleigh-number relation, as also reported by previous investigators for horizontal layers and vertical cavities. The reason for this divergence is the use of the stagnant thermal conductivity of the fluid-filled solid matrix. A simple model is presented to obtain an effective thermal conductivity as a function of the convective state, and thereby eliminate the aforementioned divergence. A reasonable agreement between experimentally and theoretically determined Nusselt numbers is then achieved for the present and previous experimental results. It is thus concluded that a unique relationship exists between the Nusselt and Rayleigh numbers unless Darcy's law is inapplicable. The factors that influence the breakdown of Darcian behaviour are characterized and their effects on heat-transfer rates are explained. It is observed that, once the relation between the Nusselt and Rayleigh numbers branches out from that obtained via the mathematical formulation based on Darcy's law, its slope approaches that for a fluid-filled enclosure of the same geometry when the Rayleigh number is large enough. An iterative scheme is also presented for estimation of effective thermal conductivity of a saturated porous medium by using the existing results for overall heat transfer.

Heat transfer measurements are presented for free convection in a vertical annulus wherein the inner cylinder is at constant surface heat flux and the outer cylinder is at constant temperature. Overall heat transfer data are corrected for thermal radiation in the annulus. Rayleigh numbers span the conduction, transition and boundary layer regimes of flow, and average heat transfer coefficients are obtained with air and helium as the working fluids. The range of Rayleigh number is 103 < Ra < 2.3 × 106; the radius ratio is 4.33; and the aspect ratio (cylinder length divided by annular gap) is 27.6. Energy transferred by thermal radiation varies with Rayleigh number and working fluid. With air, thermal radiation can account for up to 50 percent of the heat transfer. With helium, radiation can account for up to 30 percent of the heat transfer rate. The results of the study provide data relevant to the design and performance assessment of spent fuel packages as part of the National Waste Terminal Storage Program for nuclear waste isolation.

A study of simultaneous heat and mass transfer was conducted on a vertical falling film absorber to better understand the mechanisms driving the heat and mass transfer processes. Thermographic phosphors were successfully used to measure the temperature profile along the length of the absorber test tube. These measures of the local variations in temperature enabled calculation of the bulk concentration along the length of the absorber. The bulk concentration varied linearly, which infers that the concentration gradient in the direction of flow is approximately constant. The implication is that the mass flux and therefore the absorber load can be solved for using a constant flux approximation. Design data and correlations are sparse in the open literature. Some experimental data are available; however, all literature data to date have been derived at mass fractions of lithium bromide ranging from 0.30 to 0.60. Experiments were therefore conducted with no heat and mass transfer additive on an internally cooled smooth tube of 0.01905-m outside diameter and of 1.53-m length. The data, for testing at 0.62 and 0.64 mass fraction, were scaled and correlated into both Nu and Sh formulations. The average absolute error in the Nu correlation is about ±3.5% of the Nu number reduced from the experimental data. The Sh correlation is about ±5% of the reduced Sh data. Data from the open literature were reduced to the authors Nu and Sh formulations, and were within 5% of the correlations developed in the present study. The study therefore provides test data with no heat and mass transfer additive and correlations for the coupled heat- and mass-transfer process that are validated against the extensive experimental data.

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Natural convection heat transfer in a tall vertical cavity (aspect ratio = 16.5), with one isothermal vertical cold wall, and eleven alternately unheated and flush-heated sections of equal height on the opposing vertical wall, is experimentally investigated. The flow visualization pictures for the ethylene glycol–filled cavity reveal a flow pattern consisting of primary, secondary, and tertiary flows. The heat transfer data and the flow visualization photographs indicate that the stratification is the primary factor influencing the temperature of the heated sections. This behavior persists for all the runs where the secondary flow cells cover a large vertical extend of the cavity. Based on the analysis of the photographs it is suggested that the turbulent flow should be expected when the local modified Rayleigh number is in the range of 9.3×1011 to 1.9×1012. It is found that discrete flush-mounted heating in the enclosure results in local Nusselt numbers that are nearly the same as those reported for a wide flush-mounted heater on a vertical plate. This is believed to be due to the fact that the present problem is inherently unstable, and the smallest temperature difference between a heated section and the cold wall results in the onset of convection motion.