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ISSN Online: 2377-424X

ISBN Print: 0-89116-909-1

International Heat Transfer Conference 9
August, 19-24, 1990 , Jerusalem, Israel

BÉNARD CONVECTION IN LIQUID SODIUM LAYERS

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC9.3090
pages 235-239

Abstract

In a sodium lay er heated from below and cooled from above, average Nusselt numbers have been determined in the range of Rayleigh numbers 1.5 · 103 ≤ Ra ≤ 2.5 · 105. The experiments were performed in containers of internal dimensions 500 mm in diameter and 15.5 mm and 46.5 mm in height. The relevant quantities were evaluated from measured temperature and heating power data. The experiments show that heat transfer across the layer is determined mainly by heat conduction up to a Rayleigh number of 8000. Beyond this value, a significant increase of the convective heat transport is observed. This result differs from findings of Nusselt-Rayleigh number correlations reported in the literature for liquids with higher Prandtl number.