Free Convection Modeling

ADOPTED FROM COMSOL HEAT TRANSFER MODULE USER GUIDE
Free Convection of Air Over an Isothermal Vertical Plate
ME433 COMSOL INSTRUCTTIONS
FREE CONVECTION OF AIR OVER AN ISOTHERMAL VERTICAL PLATE

Problem Statement
A plate of 10 cm in height held at constant temperature Ts is brought to a room
temperature air environment. Surrounding air temperature T is lower than plate surface
temperature Ts. Due to temperature difference between air and the plate, the density of air
near the plate starts to decrease. Due to the presence of earths gravitational acceleration
field, air begins to rise along the surface of the plate forming viscous and thermal
boundary layers. Of general interest is to learn how to use COMSOL to generate plots of
velocity and temperature boundary layers in free convection over a vertical plate.
Known quantities:
Free Convection Modeling Setup
Geometry: vertical plate

Fluid: Air
Ts = 100 C
T = 20 C
L = 10 cm
Observations
This is a free convection, external flow problem. Considered geometry is a

vertical plate. The plate is held at constant temperature Ts.
Velocity and temperature fields are coupled in free convection. Therefore, a

multiphysics model involving steady state Navier Stokes and general heat
transfer modes must be setup and coupled in COMSOL. Boussinesq
approximation will be used to model air density changes induced by temperature
field.
Subject to validation conditions, correlation equations from chapter 8 are

applicable. For isothermal vertical plates, local Nusselt number is the quantity
sought.
COMSOL may introduce errors in solution at the bottom and upper edges of the
plate. Although the bottom edge errors are unavoidable, the upper edge error can
be eliminated by extending the height of the plate by a few millimeters. Thus, we
will extend the height of the plate by 5 mm at the upper edge (making the y
coordinates of the plate as ybottom = 0.01m and yup = 0.115m, as shown in the
figure above).
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Assignment
1. State the criterion for transition from laminar to turbulent flow for free convection
in vertical plates. Determine whether the flow in this problem is laminar or
turbulent.
2. Use COMSOL to determine and show 2D colormaps of velocity and temperature
fields. Use arrows to represent velocity vector field.
3. Use COMSOL to plot 2D colormap of the density field.
4. Use COMSOL to plot axial velocity u(x,yo) and temperature T(x,yo) at yo = 6 cm.
5. Use COMSOL to plot and extract numerical data local heat flux qy as a function
of y on 0 y L . Use Newtons law of cooling and extracted local heat flux qy
to determine COMSOL local heat transfer coefficient h(0,y). Compute and plot
experimentally determined h(y) given by the correct correlation equation and
COMSOL h(y) on the same graph. [Note: In this instruction set, part of this
assignment question will be done with MATLAB, but you are free to use any
software of your choice]
6. Calculate and plot the percent error between COMSOL h(y) and h(y) based on
correlation equation you chose. Base your error analysis on assumption that
correlation based h(y) is the correct solution. Can you conclude that COMSOL
results are valid? [Note: In this instruction set, part of this assignment question
will be done with MATLAB, but you are free to use any software of your choice]
7. Compute (analytically) the total heat transfer rate qT for a plate of 50 cm width.
8. [Extra Credit]:
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Modeling with COMSOL Multiphysics

This model analyzes free convection process outside a vertical plate. The plate is held at a
constant temperature Ts, which is higher than the surrounding temperature T. As warm
plate heats air near its surface, air starts rising due to changes in its density. This is called
a free convection or natural convection process. When modeling this process,
consider a rectangular subdomain that consists of air. The 10 cm plate is located on the
left vertical wall. See the diagram in Problem Statement for this modeling geometry.
The lift force responsible for natural convection process can be expressed in terms of
local density change of air as fy = ( )g. The term is the density far away from the
plate where warm plate has no influence on the air, g is gravitational acceleration
constant and represents variable density.
Boussinesq approximation can be used satisfactorily in this model to represent variable
density field. We will compute according to: = [1 (T T)/T]
With these assumptions and approximations, we are now ready to begin the modeling
procedure.
MODEL NAVIGATOR
To start working on this problem, we first need to enable two application modes in the
model navigator to create a Multiphysics model. The correct application modes are: (1)
General Heat Transfer, and (2) Weakly Compressible Navier Stokes. These modes will
be responsible for setting up and calculating temperature and velocity distribution fields,
respectively.
For this setup:
1. Start COMSOL Multiphysics.
2. From the list of application modes, select Heat Transfer Module General Heat
Transfer Steady state analysis.
3. Click the Multiphysics button.
4. Click the Add button.
5. From the list of application modes, select Heat Transfer Module Weakly
Compressible Navier Stokes Steady state analysis.
6. Click the Add button.
7. Click OK.
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OPTIONS AND SETTINGS: DEFINING CONSTANTS
Continue by creating a small database of constants the model will use.

1. From the Options menu select Constants.
2. Define the following names and expressions:
NAME
EXPRESSION
VALUE
Tinf
273.15+20 [K]
293.15[K]
dT
10[K]
10[K]
rho0
DESCRIPTION
Temperature Far Away
Temperature Step
1.2042[kg/m^3]
1.2042[kg/m ]
mu_air
18.17e-6[kg/(s*m)]
(1.817e-5)[kg/(ms)]
Air Dynamic Viscosity (20C)
k_air
0.02564[W/(m*degC)]
0.02564[W/(mK)]
Air Conductivity (20C)
Cp_air
1006.1[J/(kg*degC)]
1006.1[J/(kgK)]
Air Heat Capacity (20C)
9.81[m/s^2]
9.81[m/s ]
Air Density (20C)
Acc. Due to Gravity
3. Click OK.
COMSOL automatically determines correct units under the Value column. If it does
not, you are most likely entering wrong expressions. Carefully check the expression you
typed and make corrections, if necessary. The description column is optional and can be
left blank. It is presented here to give a short description of the constants.
-4-
GEOMETRY MODELING
In this step, we will create a 2 dimensional geometry that will be used as a model in our
problem. According to problem statement, we will need to create a rectangle with
partitioned left wall. This is done as follows.
1. In the Draw menu, select Specify Objects Rectangle
2. Enter following rectangle dimensions for R1.
R1
WIDTH
0.105
HEIGHT
0.13
3. Click OK to close Rectangle definition window.

4. Click on Zoom Extents button
geometry.
in the main toolbar to zoom into the
5. In the Draw menu, select Specify Objects Point

6. Start by entering following point coordinates for point P1.
COORDINATES
P1
P2
0.01
0.115
7. When done with step 6, click OK and repeat step 6 for point P2.
8. Click OK to close Point definition window.
You should see your finished modeling
geometry now in the main program window.
The left wall of the rectangle should be
partitioned into 3 parts by 2 points.
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PHYSICS SETTINGS
Physics settings in COMSOL consist of two parts: (1) Subdomain settings and (2)
boundary conditions. The subdomain settings let us specify material types, initial
conditions, modes of heat transfer (i.e. conduction and/or convection). The boundary
conditions settings are used to specify what is happening at the boundaries of the
geometry. In this model, we will have to specify and couple physics settings for the flow
of air and heat transfer. Let us begin by specifying Boussinesq approximation to model
air density temperature dependence.
We use Boussinesq approximation to achieve this as follows:
1. In Options menu, select Expressions Subdomain Expressions.
2. Select subdomain 1 in the Subdomain selection section.
3. Type rho in the Name field and rho0*(1-(T-Tinf)/Tinf) in the expression
field.
NAME
EXPRESSION
UNIT
rho
rho0*(1-(T-Tinf)/Tinf)
[kg/m ]
4. Click OK to close Subdomain Expressions setup window.

COMSOL automatically determines correct units under the Unit column. If it does not,
you are most likely entering wrong expression. Carefully check the expression you typed
and make corrections, if necessary.
Let us now proceed with setup of subdomain and boundary settings for flow field and
heat transfer.
Weakly Compressible Navier Stokes Subdomain Settings
1. From the Physics menu select Subdomain Settings (equivalently, press F8).
2. Select subdomain 1 in the Subdomain selection section.
3. Type rho and mu_air in the fields for density and dynamic viscosity .
4. Type g*(rho0-rho) in the Fy field.
5. Click OK.
-6-
Notice that the buoyant force Fy is set up in accordance with the condition described
on page 3. This force setup (and density field variation) is responsible for driving the
warm air up and making free convection possible. If the plate was in an environment
where g 0, (such as inside the International Space Station), the air would not rise.
Incidentally, this might be part of the reason why astronauts and cosmonauts do not
have conventional cookware in space.
Weakly Compressible Navier Stokes Boundary Settings
1. From the Physics menu open the Boundary Settings (F7) dialog box.
2. Apply the following boundary conditions:
BOUNDARY
TYPE
BOUNDARY
CONDITION
1, 3, 4
Wall
No Slip
2, 5, 6
Open
boundary
Normal Stress
BOUNDARIES
COMMENTS
Verify that field f0 is set to

0
3. Click OK to close the boundary settings window.

The no slip condition applied to boundaries 1, 3, and 4 assumes that velocity is zero
at the wall. The remaining boundaries all have the open boundary condition, meaning
that no forces act on the fluid. The open boundary condition defines the assumption
that computational domain extends to infinity.
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General Heat Transfer Subdomain Settings

1. From Mulptiphysics menu, select 1 General Heat Transfer (htgh) mode.
2. From the Physics menu, select Subdomain Settings (F8).
3. Select Subdomain 1 in the subdomain selection section.
4. Enter k_air, rho and Cp_air in the k, , and Cp fields, respectively.
5. Switch to Convection tab and check Enable convective heat transfer option.
6. Type u and v in the u and v fields, respectively.

7. Click OK to close the Subdomain Settings window.
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General Heat Transfer Boundary Conditions:

1. From the Physics menu open the Boundary Settings (F7) dialog box.
2. Apply the following boundary conditions:
BOUNDARY
BOUNDARY CONDITION
COMMENTS
1, 4
Insulation/Symmetry
2, 6
Temperature
Enter Tinf in T0 field
Temperature
Enter Tinf+dT in T0 field
Convective flux
3. Click OK to close Boundary Settings window.

The model keeps hot plate (boundary 3) at a constant temperature Ts (we will slowly raise
temperature step dT with parametric solver to 80C so that solver is able to converge
system of nonlinear equations. Note that when dT = 80C, temperature at the plate
(boundary 3) is 100C, as given in the problem statement). The short boundaries below
and above the vertical plate (1 and 4) are thermally insulated so that no conduction or
convection occurs normal to the boundaries. Ideally you would not include the insulated
parts, but they are needed to smoothen out air flow near the hot plate edges. On the
bottom and the right boundaries (2 and 6), the model sets temperature equal to room
temperature T. Air rises upwards through the upper horizontal boundary (5). Application
of Convective Flux boundary condition assumes that convection dominates the
transport of heat at this boundary.
MESH GENERATION
The following steps describe how to generate a mesh that properly resolves the velocity
field near the wall without using an overly dense mesh in the far field.
1. In the Mesh menu, select Free Mesh Parameters (F9).
2. Switch to Boundary tab
3. Select boundaries 1, 3, and 4 in the boundary selection section while holding the
Control (ctrl) key on your keyboard.
4. Enter 3e-4 in the Maximum element size edit field.
5. Switch to the Point tab.
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6. Select point 2.
7. Enter 2e-5 in the Maximum element size edit field.
8. Click Remesh.
9. Click OK to close Free Mesh Parameters window.
You should get a mesh that looks like the one below:
We are now ready to compute our solution.
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COMPUTING AND SAVING THE SOLUTION
In this step we define the type of analysis to be performed. We are interested in stationary
analysis here, which we previously selected in the Model Navigator. However, the
problem is highly non linear. Several solver settings must be changed for successful
convergence.
To easily find an initial guess for the solution, start by solving the problem for a higher
viscosity than the true value for air. Then decrease the viscosity until you reach the true
value for air. Make the transition from the start value to the true value using the
parametric solver in the following way:
1. In Solve menu, select Solver Parameters (F11).
2. Switch to Parametric solver.
3. Enter mu_air in the field for Name of parameter.
4. Enter 1e-4
1.817e-5
in the List of parameter values edit field.
5. Switch to Stationary tab and enable Highly nonlinear problem check box.
6. Switch to Advanced tab and select None from the Type of scaling list.
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7. Click OK to close Solver Parameters window.

8. From the Solve menu select Solve Problem. (Allow few minutes for solution)
This solution serves as the initial value for solving the model with higher plate
temperatures, which you perform with these steps:
9. From the Solve menu select the Solver Manager.
10. Click Store Solution button
on the bottom of the window.
11. Select 1.817e-5 as the Parameter value for solution to store.

12. Click OK.
13. In the Initial value area click the Stored solution radio button.
14. Click OK to close the Solver Manager.

15. From the Solve menu choose Solver Parameters (F11).
16. Enter dT in the field for Name of parameter.
17. Enter 10:10:80 in the List of parameter values edit field.
18. Switch to Stationary tab.

19. Disable Highly nonlinear problem check box.
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20. Click OK to close Solver parameters window.

We will now use the initial value solution to find solutions to higher plate temperatures.
21. From the Solve menu select the Solver Manager. (Allow few minutes for
solution)
22. Save your work on desktop by choosing File Save. Name the file according
to the naming convention given in the Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics
document.
The result that you obtain should resemble the following surface color maps. By default,
temperature field is shown for the case when plate surface temperature is 100C, as asked
in problem statement.
By default, your immediate result will be given in Kelvin instead of degrees Celsius for
temperature field. Furthermore, it will be colored using a jet colormap and the velocity
field (represented by arrows in the above) will not be shown. We will use distinct
colormap options to represent the air velocity and temperature fields. The next section
(Postprocessing and Visualization) will help you in obtaining the above and other
diagrams, such as 2D colormap of air density field, plots of axial velocity u(x, yo) and
temperature T(x, yo) at yo = 6 cm, and a plot of qy on 0 y L . We will then use
MATALB to compute and plot local heat transfer coefficient h(y) from COMSOL qy
data and verify this result with an appropriate correlation equation. A sample MATLAB
script for COMSOL results verification is given in appendix.
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POSTPROCESSING AND VISUALIZATION
After solving the problem, we would like to be able to look at the solution. COMSOL
offers us a number of different ways to look at our temperature (and other) fields. In this
problem we will deal with 2D color maps, velocity (and other) vector fields, computation
of local qy and 1D temperature distribution plot. You will then address the questions of
COMSOL solution validity and compare the results to correlation equation mainly by
using MATLAB.
Displaying T(x, y) and Vector Field V(x, y)
Let us first change the unit of temperature to degrees Celsius:
1. From the Postprocessing menu, open Plot Parameters dialog box (F12).
2. Under the Surface tab, change the unit of temperature to degrees Celsius from
the drop down menu in the Unit field.
3. Change the Colormap type from jet to hot.
4. Click Apply to refresh main view and keep the Plot Parameters window open.
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The 2D temperature distribution will be displayed using the hot colormap type with
degrees Celsius as the unit of temperature. Lets now add the velocity vector field V(x, y).
5. Switch to the Arrow tab and enable the Arrow plot check box.
6. Choose Velocity field from Predefined quantities.
7. Enter 20 in the Number of points for both x and y fields.
8. Press the Color button and select a color you want the arrows to be displayed in.
(Note: choose a color that produces good contrast. Green is a good choice here.)
At this point, you will see a similar plot as shown on page 13. It is a good idea to save
this colormap for future use. Before you do save it, however, experiment with the
Number of points field in Plot Parameters window and adjust the velocity vector
field to what seems the best view to you. Put 30 for the x field and update your view
by pressing Apply button. Notice the difference in velocity vector field representation.
Try other values.
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You may also want to see other quantities as vector fields. Available quantities are: (1)
Temperature gradient, (2) Conductive heat flux, (3) Convective heat flux, and (4) Total
heat flux. To see these quantities represented by a vector field:
10. Change the color of the arrow (see step 8).
11. Choose the quantity you wish to plot from Predefined quantities.
12. Click Apply.
13. Click OK when you are done displaying these quantities to close the Plot
Parameters window.
Saving Color Maps:
After you have selected a view that shows the results clearly, you may want to save it as
an image for future discussion. This may be done as follows:
1. Go to the File menu and select Export Image. This will bring up an
Export Image window.
For a 4 by 6 image, acceptable image quality settings are given in the figure below. If
you need higher image quality, increase the DPI value.
2. Change your Export Image value settings to the ones in the above figure.
3. Click the Export button.
4. Name and save the image.
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Displaying V(x, y) as a Colormap:

1. From the Postprocessing menu, open Plot Parameters dialog box (F12).
2. Under the Arrow tab, disable the Arrow plot checkbox
3. Switch to Surface tab.
4. From Predefined quantities, select Velocity field.

5. Change the Colormap type from hot to jet.
The 2D Velocity distribution will be displayed using the jet colormap.
Displaying Air Density Field Colormap:
With the Plot Parameters window open, ensure that you are under the Surface tab,
7. Type rho in Expression field (without quotation marks).
8. Click Apply. (Note: The unit will change automatically)

These steps produce a colormap that displays variations in airs density . Note the values
on the color scale and compare them with Appendix C of your textbook.
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Plotting Axial Temperature T(x, yo) at yo = 6 cm

1. From Postprocessing menu select Cross Section Plot Parameters option.
2. Under General tab, select 80 as the only Solution to use option.
3. Switch to the Line/Extrusion tab.

4. Change the Unit of temperature to degrees Celsius.
5. Change the x axis data from arc length to x.
6. Enter the following coordinates in the Cross section line data: x0 = 0, x1 =
0.105; y0 = y1 = 0.06.
7. Click Apply.
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These steps produce a plot of T(x) at y = 6 cm, from x = 0 cm (plate surface) to x = 10.5
cm (ambient environment conditions). Temperature T is plotted on the y axis and x
coordinates are plotted on the x axis. To save this plot,
8. Click the save button in your figure with results. This will bring up an
9. Follow steps 2 4 as instructed on page 16 to finish with exporting the image.
Plotting Axial Velocity u(x, yo) at yo = 6 cm
With Cross Section Plot Parameters window open, ensure that you are under the
Line/Extrusion tab,
10. Type U_chns in Expression field (without quotation marks).
11. Click OK. (Note: The unit will change automatically)

These steps produce a plot of u(x) at y = 6 cm, from x = 0 cm (plate surface) to x = 10.5
cm (ambient environment conditions). Axial velocity u is plotted on the y axis and x
coordinates are plotted on the x axis. To save this plot,
12. Click the save button in your figure with results. This will bring up an
13. Follow steps 2 4 as instructed on page 16 to finish with exporting the image.
Plotting Local qy for 0 y L
To plot qy for 0 y L using COMSOL,
1. Select Cross Section Plot Parameters option from Postprocessing menu.

2. Switch to the Line/Extrusion tab.
3. From Predefined quantities, select Total heat flux.
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4. Change the x axis data from x to y.

5. Enter the following coordinates in the Cross section line data: x0 = x1 = 0; y0
= 0.01, and y1 = 0.11.
6. Click OK to close Cross Section Plot Parameters window.
As a result of these steps, a new plot will be shown that graphs qy for 0 y L . Do not
close this plot just yet. We are going to extract this data to a text file for comparative
analysis with MATLAB.
Exporting COMSOL Data to a Data File

1. Click on Export Current Plot button
in the previous step.
in the Temperature time graph created
2. Click Browse and navigate to your saving folder (say Desktop).

3. Name the file qy.txt. (Note: do not forget to type the .txt extension in the
name of the file).
4. Click OK to save the file.
This completes COMSOL modeling procedures for this problem.
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Modeling with MATLAB
This part of modeling procedures describes how to create comparative graphs of local
heat transfer coefficient h(y) using MATLAB. Obtain MATLAB script file named
isothermal_vplate.m from Blackboard prior to following these procedures. Save this
file in the same directory as the data file(s) (qy.txt) from COMSOL. (Note:
isothermal_vplate.m file is attached to the electronic version of this document as well.
To access the file directly from this document, select View Navigation Panels
Attachements and then save isothermal_vplate.m in a proper directory)
Comparing COMSOL Solution to Correlation Solution

MATLAB script (isothermal_vplate.m) is programmed to use exported COMSOL data
for heat flux qy and Newtons Law of cooling to determine the local heat transfer
coefficient h(y) along the plate. The script is also programmed to calculate experimental
local heat transfer coefficient h(y) according to a correlation equation. The script will
ultimately produce comparative graphs that will plot both solutions. Follow the steps
below to complete this problem:
1. Open MATLAB by double clicking its icon on the Desktop.
2. Load isothermal_vplate.m file by selecting File Open Desktop
isothermal_vplate.m. The script responsible for COMSOL data import and data
comparison will appear in a new window.
3. Press F5 key to run the script. MATLAB editor will display a warning message.
Click Change Directory to run the script.
Correlation equation and COMSOL solutions will be plotted in Figure 1. Figure 2 plots
the percent error between local heat transfer coefficients according to the equation printed
on the figure. These results are shown below.
Results Plotted with MATLAB:
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While in MATLAB, you may zoom into the left plot to notice departures in results based
on the solution methods. Error analysis shows that most of the error is concentrated at the
bottom edge of the plate. It is therefore reasonable to zoom into this area to better notice
departures in results based on the solution methods. This is shown in the figure below.
The following 2 graphs show axial velocity and temperature at yo = 6 cm. These graphs
were previously obtained in COMSOL. They have been repotted with MATLAB.
Armed with these results, you are in a position to answer most of the assigned questions.
- 22 -
APPENDIX
MATLAB script
If you could not obtain this script from the Blackboard or the PDF file, you may copy it
here, then paste it into notepad and save it in the same directory where you saved
COMSOL data file(s). You will most likely get hard to spot syntax errors if you copy
the script this way. It is therefore highly advised that you use the other 2 methods on
obtaining this script instead of the copying method.
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
#########################################################################
ME 433 - Heat Transfer
Sample MATLAB Script For:
(X) Free Convection of Air over an Isothermal Vertical Plate
IMPORTANT: Save this file in the same directory with
"qy.txt" file.
#########################################################################
%% Preliminaries
clear
% Clears variables from memory
clc
% Clears the UI prompt
%% Constant Quantities
Tinf = 20; % Ambient temperature, [degC]
Ts = 100; % Plate temperature, [degC]
Tf = 0.5*(Tinf + Ts); % Film temperature, [degC]
g = 9.81; % acc. due to gravity, [m/s^2]
Cp = 1008; % at Tf
rho = 1.0596; %% at Tf
mu = 20.03e-6; % at Tf
eta = 18.9e-6; % at Tf
k = 0.02852; % at Tf
Pr = 0.708; % at Tf
alpha = eta/Pr; % at Tf
beta = 1/(Tf + 273.15); % in Kelvin^(-1)
%% Heat Flux Data Import from COMSOL Multiphysics:
load qy.txt;
% Loads q"(0,y) as a 2 column vector
y = 0:0.000501:0.1'; % y - coords vector, [m]
yflux = qy(:,2)';
% flux, [W/m^2]
hy_comsol = yflux./(Ts - Tinf); % COMSOL h(y), [W/(m^2-C)]
%% Correlation Equation For Nusselt Number
Ray = beta*g*(Ts - Tinf)*y.^(3)/(eta*alpha);
Nuy = 3/4*(Pr/(2.435 + 4.884*sqrt(Pr)...
+ 4.953*Pr))^(1/4)*Ray.^(1/4); % Local Nusselt number
hy_analyt = (k./y).*Nuy; % Correlation Local Heat Transfer Coefficient
%% Error Analysis in h(y)
errh = (hy_comsol - hy_analyt)./hy_analyt*100;
%% Plotter
figure1 = figure('InvertHardcopy','off',...
%\
'Colormap',[1 1 1 ],...
% | -> Setting up the figure
'Color',[1 1 1]);
%/
plot(y,hy_comsol,'k',y,hy_analyt,'k--');
% Plotting
grid on
box off
title('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{16} \bf Local Heat Transfer Coefficient h_y')
xlabel('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{14} \it \bf y, [m]')
ylabel('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{14} \it \bf h_y , [W/m^2-\circC]')
legend('COMSOL Solution','Correlation Solution','location','northeast')
%
%
figure2 = figure('InvertHardcopy','off',...
%\
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'Colormap',[1 1 1 ],...
'Color',[1 1 1]);
%/
plot(y,errh,'k');
% Plotting
grid on
box off
title('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{16} \bf Error Analysis')
xlabel('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{14} \it \bf y, [m]')
ylabel('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{14} \it \bf Error in h_y , [%]')
str1(1) = {'$${\%err={h_{y_{comsol}}-h_{y_{correlation}}\over h_{y_{correlation}}}\times
100} $$'};
text('units','normalized', 'position',[.33 .9], ...
'fontsize',14,...
'FontName', 'Times New Roman',...
'FontAngle', 'italic', ...
'BackgroundColor',[1 1 1],...
'interpreter','latex',...
'string', str1);
%% COMSOL u(x,y0) and T(x,y0) Replots
% #########################################################################
% Unsuppress this portion only if you wich to replot COMSOL u(x,y0) and
% T(x,y0). Prior to reploting, make sure to extract numerical data for
% velocity and temperature to text files. You must name the files as:
% "velfields.txt" and "tempfield.txt" for velocity and remperature fields,
% respectively and place then in the same directory as this script.
% #########################################################################
% load velfield.txt;
% Loads u(x,y0) as a 2 column vector
% load tempfield.txt;
% Loads T(x,y0) as a 2 column vector
% y1 = velfield(:,1)*100;
% y - coords, [cm]
% u1 = velfield(:,2);
% u(x), [m/s]
% t1 = tempfield(:,2); % T(x), [degC]
%
% figure3 = figure('InvertHardcopy','off',...
%\
%
'Colormap',[1 1 1 ],...
%
'Color',[1 1 1]);
%/
% plot(y1,u1,'k--');
% Plotting
% grid on
% box off
% title('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{16} \bf Axial velocity u at y_o = 6 cm')
% xlabel('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{14} \it \bf y, [cm]')
% ylabel('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{14} \it \bf u (x, y_o) , [m/s]')
%
% figure4 = figure('InvertHardcopy','off',...
%\
%
'Colormap',[1 1 1 ],...
%
'Color',[1 1 1]);
%/
% plot(y1,t1,'k--');
% Plotting
% grid on
% box off
% title('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{16} \bf Axial temperature T at y_o = 6 cm')
% xlabel('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{14} \it \bf y, [cm]')
% ylabel('\fontname{Times New Roman} \fontsize{14} \it \bf T (x, y_o) , [\circC]')
%
This completes MATLAB modeling procedures for this problem.
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Free Convection Modeling

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Free Convection Modeling

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ADOPTED FROM COMSOL HEAT TRANSFER MODULE USER GUIDE

Free Convection of Air Over an Isothermal Vertical Plate

ME433 COMSOL INSTRUCTTIONS

FREE CONVECTION OF AIR OVER AN ISOTHERMAL VERTICAL PLATE