Heat Generation/Absorption Effect on Natural Convection Flow in a Vertical Annulus with Time-Periodic Boundary Conditions

Abstract

The role of heat generation/absorption on natural convection flow formation in a vertical annulus with prescribed time-periodic heating is investigated in this article. The governing continuity, momentum and energy equations are converted into ordinary differential equation using suitable transformations and closed form expressions are obtained for temperature distribution, velocity profile, Nusselt number, skin friction and mass flow rate in terms of Bessel’s function and modified Bessel’s function of first and second kinds. Based on depicted line and contour graphs, results show that the inclusion of heat generation/absorption parameter removes the singularity point in periodic velocity and skin friction for unity Prandtl number. In addition, heat generation/absorption parameter respectively increase/decrease periodic temperature distribution, velocity profile, Nusselt number and skin-friction at the surfaces of the cylinders.