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Model ID: 464

Heated Vertical Plate

This model shows the application of COMSOL Multiphysics in modeling the non-isothermal flow of gases at relatively low flow velocities.

Here, a vertical plate is held at a constant temperature, which is higher than that of the surrounding air. When the warm plate heats the air near its surface, the air starts rising upward due to its change in density.

The model assumes that the work done by the gas is negligible, variations in temperature arise through external heating and that the gas is ideal.

It illustrates how to couple the heat transfer equation to the equations for non-isothermal flow. It also compares the results to the empirical expressions for the heat flux from an isothermal vertical plate as presented by A. Bejan.

Surface plot of the temperature. Arrows show the velocity field.

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