Laser-Doppler Measurements of the Velocity Along a Heated Vertical Wall of a Rectangular Enclosure

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Abstract
The horizontal and vertical velocity profiles near a heated vertical wall of rectangular enclosure were measured for the laminar regime of natural convection with a laser-Doppler anemometer. The horizontal temperature profiles near the heated wall were measured with a thermocouple. An almost perfect two-dimensional mode of flow was confirmed for the central regime of the box. A minimum in the temperature profile between the hot wall and the thermally stratified central core resulted in a downward flow just outside the boundary layer of upward flow, but the central core was stagnant. Visualization of the flow with a phenolphtalein tracer confirmed the two-dimensionality of the flow along the vertical heated wall and revealed a zone of three-dimensional flow in the form of spiral streaklines along the insulated top plate toward the opposing cooled vertical wall. Measurements such as these provide for the first time the basis for a critical test of the accuracy of numerical solutions.

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