Analysis of combined forced and free convection across a horizontal cylinder

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Abstract
A new analysis is performed to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics of laminar combined forced and free convection about a horizontal cylinder. The transformed conservation equations of the nonsimilar boundary layers are solved by a finite difference method. Numerical results for gases having a Prandtl number of 0.7 are presented for buoyancy parameters which cover the entire domain of the mixed convection, ranging from pure forced convection to pure free convection. It is found that both the local wall shear and the local heat transfer rate (1) increase with increasing buoyancy force for assisting flow, (2) decrease with increasing buoyancy force for opposing flow, and (3) depend very strongly on the variation of the local free stream velocity, particularly for small to moderate buoyancy forces. With regard to the heat transfer results, the buoyancy force effects on forced convection are found to be important for Gr/Re2≥ 1.93 and ≤ –1.60, respectively for assisting and opposing flows, whereas the inertia force effects on free convection become significant for Re2/Gr ≥ 0.012.