An experimental study of the thermal flow around a thin fin on the sidewall of a differentially heated cavity

Abstract

The development of the thermal flow around a thin fin on the sidewall of a differentially heated cavity is investigated based on temperature measurements, and the impact of the thin fin on the transient flow is discussed. The experimental results demonstrate that a lower intrusion front may significantly disturb the thermal boundary layer flow at the downstream side of the fin in the early stage. In the quasi-steady stage, the temperature measurements indicate that the oscillations of the thermal flow around the fin are dominated by a single frequency for the present Rayleigh number.