Turbulent mixed convection in an annular passage with radiation : Experimental and numerical investigations

This study is related to mixed convection heat transfer of air flowing through an ascending vertical annular passage with significant radiation heat transfer. This configuration leads to a maximum level of heat transfer impairment similar to the one obtained in pipe flows. Five turbulence model predictions are compared with the experimental data obtained by the Promethee facility. Both k?w models (Wilcox and SST) tend to overestimate heat transfer in mixed convection while the standard low-Re number k-e underestimates it. The AKN low-Re model performs poorly in all cases. Finally, only the v2-f model is found to closely agree with experimental data for all convection regimes.