Heat transfer by free convection in air from isothermal horizontal surfaces heated and facing upward has been experimentally studied by using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The local and the average heat-transfer coefficients and the temperature distributions were determined in the range of Gr Pr from 1.9 × 106 to 1.7 × 108. Measurements were compared with available experimental and theoretical results. Periodical flow instabilities caused random changes, which could reach +45 and −35 percent of mean values in the local Nusselt number and +23 and −15 percent of mean value in the average Nusselt number. The nature of the free convection flow over the heated surface and the separation of the boundary layer were inferred from these random changes in the local and average Nusselt numbers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.