Experimental Study of Buoyancy Induced Flow and Heat Transfer Through Uniformly Heated Vertical Tube Air Heater

The present work is aimed at studying the effect of different system parameters on the heat transfer on vertical circular tube air heater. They include tube length, tube diameter, and heat flux supplied. Constant heat flux boundary condition is created on the tube surface. Experiment is conducted to investigate the effect of different system parameter on heat transfer and buoyancy induced flow. The heat transfer coefficient was found increasing with increase in heat flux supplied, but it reduces with increase in diameter of the tube and its length. The air outlet temperature was found increasing with increase in heat flux, tube length but reduces with increase in tube diameter. Nusselt number is calculated and was found well within 10 % of the results given in the literature.