CONFINED NATURAL-CONVECTION DUE TO LATERAL HEATING IN A STABLY STRATIFIED SOLUTION

Experimental investigations have been conducted to study steady natural convection of a stably stratified salt-water solution due to lateral heating in a rectangular enclosure of aspect ratio 3.0. Depending on the buoyancy ratio, N, which represents the relative magnitude of solutal stratification to thermal buoyancy, four distinct flow regimes are observed-unicell flow regime for N < 10, simultaneously formed layer flow regime for 10 ≤ N < 40, successively formed layer flow regime for 40 ≤ N < 55 and stagnant flow regime for N ≥ 55. Formation and growth of the layered flow structure is visually observed and described, with the corresponding temperature and concentration distributions in each layer. © 1990.