An experimental study is made of natural convection in gallium melts enclosed by vertical circular cylinders with localized circumferential heating. Heating is done in an axial band at the mid-height, and both ends of the cylinder are cooled. In the present study, the cylinder aspect (Ar=height/diameter) ratio ranges from 2 to 10, and the Rayleigh number (Ra) ranges from 9.0×10~4 to 3.0×10~7. The Prandtl number is 0.21. Temperature measurements are made at six axial levels around the circumference of the cylinder to study thermal convection in the melt.
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