I'm trying to determine the circulation patterns in a tank 24' wide with both walls heated.   The walls are essentially nets with very slow longitudinal flow along the nets-- slow enough so that is not a factor in heat transfer.  

The water temperature may go as low as 3C and we would like to heat a small area along the net walls to about 60C.  For economic reasons we would prefer not to heat the entire mass of water, but to maintain the permeable walls (nets) warm. The nets are essentially cross flow dividers and keep the flow in the direction of the heating pipes. 

I know it sounds strange but that's what I'm trying to do.  Any references you could point me to with scalable graphics showing circulation patterns would be appreciated. I have determined the Raleigh and Nusselt Numbers but all I can find so far is material on flow across cooling fins, which really doesn't fit my case and is not scalable.

Thanks:

Dave Russell, PE

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