Natural convection of Newtonian fluids between two concentric cylinders of a special cross-sectional form

In this paper, we performed a numerical simulation of natural convection of Newtonian fluids between two cylinders of different cross-sectional form. The inner cylinder is supposed to be hot and the outer cylinder is assumed to be cold. The diameter of inner cylinder to the diameter of outer cylinder defines the radii ratio (RR= 2.5). The governing equations describing the physical behavior of fluid flow and heat transfer are solved using finite volume method. The effects of Prandtl number (Pr = 0.71 to 100), Rayleigh number (Ra = 103 to 105) and inclination angle of inner cylinder (ω = 0° to 80°) on streamlines, isotherms and dimensionless velocity are presented and discussed. Also, the mean average Nusselt number of inner cylinder is plotted versus the governing parameters. All present simulations are considered in two-dimensions for steady laminar flow regime. The obtained results showed that the flow between cylinders is more stable for the inclination angle ω = 0°. Increase in Rayleigh number increases the heat transfer rate for all values of inclination angle. Furthermore, the effect of Prandtl number on the mean average Nusselt number becomes negligible when Pr is over the value 7.01. For example at Pr = 0.71 and Ra =105, increase in inclination from 0° to 40°decreases the average Nusselt number by 5.4%. A new correlation is also provided to describe the average Nusselt number as function of Pr and Ra at ω = 0°.