Natural convection with mercury in a uniformly heated vertical channel during unstable laminar and transitional flow

Abstract

Abstract Experimental heat transfer correlations were determined for natural convection in mercury in a uniformly heated vertical channel with width‐to‐height ratios varying from 0.25 to infinity (the single plate limit). Local modified Grashof numbers varied between 10 8 and 10 11 . Temperature and velocity profiles were obtained for these same channel configurations and local Grashof numbers. Instantaneous velocity plots indicate the range of conditions studied to proceed from unstable laminar flow well into the transition regime. Heat transfer results are in good agreement with earlier results reported for stable laminar flow which were limited to values of modified Grashof number less than 10 9 .