Results of an experimental study of natural convection and surface radiation between three parallel vertical plates, symmetrically spaced, with air as the intervening medium are presented. The analysis consists of heating the central plate at different levels and recording the temperatures of both the central and the side plates at steady state conditions. Based on the measurements, a correlation for the maximum temperature excess of the “hot” plate in terms of the emissivity of the central and the side plates, the aspect ratio, and the dimensionless total heat flux is given, valid for a range of emissivity 0.05εc,εs0.85, aspect ratio 2.38A17, and total heat flux 32q1590W/m2. Through this, the heat transfer enhancement due to radiation has been succinctly brought out.

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