Mixed convection cooling of a heated circular cylinder by laminar upward-directed slot jet impingement

An experimental and numerical study has been carried out to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of a horizontal circular cylinder exposed to a slot jet impingement of air. A square-edged nozzle is mounted parallel with the cylinder axis and jet flow impinges on the bottom of the cylinder. The study is focused on low Reynolds numbers ranging from 120 to 1,210, Grashof numbers up to Gr = 10Re2 and slot-to-cylinder spacing from 2 to 8 of the slot width. The flow field is greatly influenced by the slot exit velocity and the buoyancy force due to density change. A Mach–Zehnder Interferometer is used for measurement of local Nusselt number around the cylinder at 10° interval. It is observed that the average Nusselt number decreases with increasing the jet spacing and increases with rising the Reynolds number. A finite volume method utilizing a curvilinear coordinate transformation is used for numerical modeling. The numerical results show good agreement with the experimental results. The flow and thermal field are seen to be stable and symmetric around the cylinder over the range of parameters studied.