Heat transfer in cryogenic helium gas by turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a cylindrical cell of aspect 1

Abstract

We present experimental results on the heat transfer efficiency of cryogenic turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a cylindrical cell 0.3 m in both diameter and height which has improvements with respect to various corrections connected with finite thermal conductivity of sidewalls and plates.The heat transfer efficiency described by the Nusselt number Nu = Nu(Ra, Pr) is investigated for the range of Rayleigh number 10**6 < Ra < 10**15. with the Prandtl number varying such that 0.7 < Ra < 15, using cryogenic 4He gas with well-known and in situ tunable properties as a working fluid

Keywords

• heat transfer
• 4He gas
• turbulent convection
• Rayleigh-Bénard
• Nusselt number
• Rayleigh number
• Prandtl number
• cylindrical cell
• Oberbeck-Bousinesq effects