Experimental estimation of the transient free convection heat transfer coefficient on a vertical flat plate in air

Transient heat convection on a vertical plate has been interpreted both theoretically and experimentally, in terms of a variable heat transfer coefficient, by several authors. Few results concern the case were air is the fluid. Joule heating of a very thin vertical graphite foil has been tested experimentally here. Two different methods of inversion have been studied for estimating the local or global transfer coefficient, starting from infrared camera measurements. The second method has been able to provide the convective contribution to the measured global transfer coefficient. Experimental results with different levels of heating show that the early transfer coefficient decrease proportionally (in time t) to t−1, and not to t−1/2 as the early times conduction theory would anticipate. Other effects than those already presented in the literature remain to be investigated, in order to explain the discrepancy of this theory for air.