Experimental and numerical analysis of thermo-magnetic convection in a vertical annular enclosure

In the present paper an experimental and numerical analysis of a thermo-magnetic convective flow of paramagnetic fluid in an annular enclosure with a round rod core and a cylindrical outer wall is presented. It is complemented by an experimental analysis of natural convection depending on the inclination angle to show the stability of the present configuration. Convection in an annulus between two vertical co-axial cylinders resulting from gravitational and magnetic environments has been investigated. A strong magnetic field can be an alternative to heat transfer enhancement. The effect of the magnetic field on the convection of the paramagnetic fluid in the annular vessel in various positions was compared. The numerical analysis was done based on the continuity, momentum and energy equations. A term related to the magnetic buoyancy force was added to the momentum equation. The distributions of Nusselt number present minima in two positions of the enclosure, which depends on the reciprocal relationship between the gravitational and magnetising forces.     

A numerical study of droplet motion/departure on condensation of mixture vapor using lattice Boltzmann method

Droplet motion/departure, which is governed by external force acceleration coefficient, droplet radius and surface wettability on solid surfaces under external forces such as gravitational force, play a significant role in characterizing condensation heat transfer, especially when high fractional non-condensable gases (NCG) present. However, due to the challenge in visualizing the vapor/steam velocity field imposed by droplet motion/departure, the detailed mechanism of droplet motion/departure on condensing surfaces has not been completely investigated experimentally. In this study, droplet motion/departures on solid surfaces under external forces and their interactions with steam flow are simulated using two dimensional (2D) multiphase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Large external force acceleration coefficient, droplet radius and contact angle, lead to large droplet deformation and high motion/departure velocity, which significantly shortens the droplet residual time on the solid surface. Our simulation shows that steam vortices (lateral velocity) induced by droplet motion/departure can greatly disturb the vapor flow and would be intensified by increasing external force acceleration coefficient, droplet radius, and contact angle. In addition, the location of vortex center shifts in the ascending direction with increase of these factors. The average lateral velocities induced by droplet motion/departure at various conditions are obtained. The mass transfer resistance is substantially reduced owing to the droplet motion/departure, leading to an enhanced heat flux. The experimental results are compared to validate the influence of droplet motion/departure on condensation heat transfer performance, especially for steam–air mixture with the presence of high fractional NCG.     

MHD natural convection with Joule and viscous heating effects in iso-flux porous medium-filled enclosures

In this study, the magnetohydrodynamics （MHD） natural convection heat transfer with Joule and viscous heating effects inside an iso-flux porous medium-filled inclined rectangular enclosure is studied numerically. An iso-heat flux is applied for heating and cooling the two opposing walls of the enclosure while the other walls are adiabatic. The Forchheimer extension of Darcy-Oberbeck-Boussinesq and energy equations is transformed into a dimensionless form using a set of suitable variables instead of a finite difference scheme. The governing parameters are the magnetic influence number, the modified Rayleigh number, the inclination angle, and the aspect ratio of the enclosure. The results show that viscous and Joule heating effects decrease heat transfer rates.     

Interaction of turbulent natural convection and surface thermal radiation in inclined square enclosures

Two-dimensional numerical studies of flow and temperature fields for turbulent natural convection and surface radiation in inclined differentially heated enclosures are performed. Investigations are carried out over a wide range of Rayleigh numbers from 10⁸ to 10¹², with the angle of inclination varying between 0° and 90°. Turbulence is modeled with a novel variant of the k–ε closure model. The predicted results are validated against experimental and numerical results reported in literature. The effect of the inclination of the enclosure on pure turbulent natural convection and the latter’s interaction with surface radiation are brought out. Profiles of turbulent kinetic energy and effective viscosity are studied to observe the net effect on the intensity of turbulence caused by the interaction of natural convection and surface radiation. The variations of local Nusselt number and average Nusselt number are presented for various inclination angles. Marked change in the convective Nusselt number is found with the orientation of enclosure. Also analyzed is the influence of change in emissivity on the flow and heat transfer. A correlation relevant to practical applications in the form of average Nusselt number, as a function of Rayleigh number, Ra, radiation convection parameter, N _RC and inclination angle of the enclosure, φ is proposed.     

Natural convection in an inclined rectangular porous cavity with uniform heat flux from the side

The problem of natural convection in an inclined rectangular porous layer enclosure is studied numerically. The enclosure is heated from one side and cooled from the other by a constant heat flux while the two other walls are insulated. The effect of aspect ratio, inclination angle and Rayleigh number on heat transfer is studied. It is found that the enclosure orientation has a considerable effect on the heat transfer. The negative orientation sharply inhibits the convection and consequently the heat transfer and a positive orientation maximizes the energy transfer. The maximum temperature within the porous medium can be considerably higher than that induced by pure conduction when the cavity is negatively oriented. The peak of the average Nusselt number depends on the Rayleigh number and the aspect ratio. The heat transfer between the two thermally active boundaries is sensitive to the effect of aspect ratio. For an enclosure at high or low aspect ratio, the convection is considerably decreased and the heat transfer depends mainly on conduction.     

Transient heat flux measurement of natural convection in an inclined enclosure with time-periodically-varying wall temperature

The transient natural convection in an inclined enclosure filled with water is studied experimentally for the time-periodically-varying wall temperature on one side wall and constant average temperature on the opposing side wall. This system has no temperature difference between the opposing two side walls in time-averaged sense. The temperatures of two opposing walls and the heat flux across the enclosure are measured by a heat flux meter. Based on the experimental results, the effects of time-periodically-varying wall temperature and inclined angles of the enclosure on heat transfer characteristics are studied. The experimental results show that, with the upper wall temperature oscillating, the heat flux across the enclosure is also periodically varied with time, and the net heat flux is from the lower wall to the upper wall. Numerical computations are also conducted and numerical results are qualitatively assured by the experimental measurements.     

Buoyancy-induced flow and convective heat transfer in an inclined arc-shape enclosure

Numerical and experimental investigations have been conducted to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics for the buoyancy-induced flow inside an inclined arc-shape enclosure. Mathematical model in form of a stream function-vorticity formulation representing the laws of conservation in mass, momentum, and energy is expressed in a curvilinear coordinate frame and solved by a finite-volume discretization method. Heat transfer and flow pattern are predicted at various Grashof numbers and inclination angles. Meanwhile, an experimental system is developed and a flow-visualization technique using smoke is employed to observe the flow pattern. Results show that only when the Grashof number is higher than 10⁵, the increase in natural convection heat transfer becomes appreciable. Both the strength and the pattern of the buoyancy-induced vortex are found to be greatly dependent on the inclination angle. The range of the Grashof number considered in this study is up to 10⁷ and the inclination angle is varied from 0 to π.     

A numerical study of transient natural convection under time-dependent gravitational acceleration field

A transient natural convection caused by abruptly heating of a vertical wall in a square enclosure which is under time-dependent gravitational acceleration field is studied numerically. During the computing process, a penalty finite element method is adopted to solve the governing equations. The factor of the time-dependent gravitational acceleration is included in Rayleigh number, therefore two variation of Rayleigh number are considered, one is from 10⁵ via 10⁶ to ? 10⁵ and the other is from 10⁴ via 10⁵ to ? 10⁴. Since the variations of flow field and temperature distribution of the fluid in the square enclosure are complicated and unpredictable, the isotherms, streamlines and time dependent heat transfer rate are examined for investigating the heat transfer mechanism during the transient process. The results show that the agreement of the heat transfer rate of this study with that of quasi-steady state is mainly dependent on the response of the variation rate of boundary layer along the vertical walls to that of time-dependent gravitational acceleration.     

Computational and experimental studies of convective fluid motion and heat transfer in inclined non-rectangular enclosures

Computational and experimental studies of the fluid motion and heat transfer characteristics of an incompressible fluid contained in a non-rectangular inclined enclosure are described in this paper. The enclosure has two 45° inclined side walls one of which was heated and the other cooled. The remaining two sides of the enclosure are parallel and insulated. The enclosure was rotated about the long axis in steps of 30° through 360°. Experiments were performed to study the effects of Rayleigh number, aspect ratios and orientation of the enclosure. The computational method uses a mesh transformation technique coupled with the introduction of ‘false transient’ parameters for the steady state solution of the problem. The experimental method uses smoke for flow visualization studies. With aspect ratios of 3 and 6, the results indicate that the heat transfer and fluid motion within the enclosure is a strong function of both the Rayleigh number and the cavity orientation angle. A minimum and a maximum mean Nusselt number occurred as the angle of inclination was increased from 0 to 360°. A transition in the mode of circulation occurred at the angle corresponding to the minimum or maximum rate of heat transfer. Stream lines and isotherms are presented for the most representative cases     

Effects of inclination angle on natural convection in enclosures filled with Cu–water nanofluid

Effects of inclination angle on natural convection heat transfer and fluid flow in a two-dimensional enclosure filled with Cu-nanofluid has been analyzed numerically. The performance of nanofluids is tested inside an enclosure by taking into account the solid particle dispersion. The angle of inclination is used as a control parameter for flow and heat transfer. It was varied from  = 0° to  = 120°. The governing equations are solved with finite-volume technique for the range of Rayleigh numbers as 10³  Ra  10⁵. It is found that the effect of nanoparticles concentration on Nusselt number is more pronounced at low volume fraction than at high volume fraction. Inclination angle can be a control parameter for nanofluid filled enclosure. Percentage of heat transfer enhancement using nanoparticles decreases for higher Rayleigh numbers.     

MHD natural convection in porous media-filled enclosures

In this work, the magnetohydrodynamics （MHD） natural convection heat transfer problem inside a porous medium filled with inclined rectangular enclosures is investigated numerically. The boundary conditions selected on the enclosure are two adiabatic and two isothermal walls. The governing equations, continuity, and Forchheimer extension of the Darcy law and energy are transformed into dimensionless forms by using a set of suitable variables, and then solved by using a finite difference scheme. The governing parameters are the magnetic influence number, the Darcy Rayleigh number, the inclination angle, and the aspect ratio of the enclosure. It is found that the magnetic influence number and the inclination angle have pronounced effects on the fluid flow and heat transfer in porous media-filled enclosures.     

Numerical study of simultaneous natural convection heat transfer from both surfaces of a uniformly heated thin plate with arbitrary inclination

 Numerical studies were conducted to investigate the natural convection heat transfer around a uniformly heated thin plate with arbitrary inclination in an infinite space. The numerical approach was based on the finite volume technique with a nonstaggered grid arrangement. For handling the pressure–velocity coupling the SIMPLE-algorithm was used. QUICK scheme and first order upwind scheme were employed for discretization of the momentum and energy convective terms respectively. Plate width and heating rate were used to vary the modified Rayleigh number over the range of 4.8×10⁶ to 1.87×10⁸. Local and average heat transfer characteristics were compared with regarding to the inclination angle. The empirical expressions for local and average Nusselt number were correlated. It has been found that for inclination angle less than 10^∘, the flow and heat transfer characteristics are complicated and the average Nusselt number can not be correlated by one equation while for inclination angle larger than 10^∘, the average Nusselt number can be correlated into an elegant correlation. Received on 18 April 2001 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Conjugate conduction-natural convection in an enclosure with time-periodic sidewall temperature and inclination

The unsteady conjugate conduction-natural convection in enclosure is of great theoretical significance and is widely encountered in engineering applications in the areas of fluid dynamics and heat transfer. However, there are relatively few efforts to investigate the unsteady flow physics and heat transfer characteristics in the inclined enclosure of finite thickness walls. In the present work, this problem is numerically investigated by a high accuracy multidomain temporal-spatial pseudospectral method. The enclosure is filled with Boussinesq fluid and is bounded by four finite thickness and conductive walls; one of the vertical sidewall is exposed to time-periodic temperature environment while the opposite sidewall holds constant temperature; the top and bottom walls are assumed to be adiabatic. Particular efforts are focused on the effects of three types of influential factors: the wall thermophysical properties, the time-periodic temperature patterns and the inclination, and the time-periodic flow patterns and heat transfer characteristics are presented. Numerical results reveal that within the present parameter range, the heat transfer rate increases almost linearly with the thermal conductivity ratio and thermal diffusivity ratio but decreases with the inclination angle. Moreover, the heat transfer could be enhanced or weakened by selecting different temperature pulsating period in the case of finite thickness wall, while it is always enhanced if the walls are zero thickness. The back heat transfer and heat transfer resonance phenomena are observed, and their relationships with the time-periodic flow patterns and temperature distributions are analyzed. The findings are helpful to the understandings of the fluid flow and heat transfer mechanisms in the related enclosure configurations, and may be of engineering use in thermal design improvement.     

Conjugate Phase Change Heat Transfer in an Inclined Compound Cavity Partially Filled with a Porous Medium: A Deformed Mesh Approach

In this paper, the melting process of a PCM inside an inclined compound enclosure partially filled with a porous medium is theoretically addressed using a novel deformed mesh method. The sub-domain area of the compound enclosure is made of a porous layer and clear region. The right wall of the enclosure is adjacent to the clear region and is subject to a constant temperature of T_c. The left wall, which is connected to the porous layer, is thick and thermally conductive. The thick wall is partially subject to the hot temperature of T_h. The remaining borders of the enclosure are well insulated. The governing equations for flow and heat transfer, including the phase change effects and conjugate heat transfer at the thick wall, are introduced and transformed into a non-dimensional form. A deformed grid method is utilized to track the phase change front in the solid and liquid regions. The melting front movement is controlled by the Stefan condition. The finite element method, along with Arbitrary Eulerian–Lagrangian (ALE) moving grid technique, is employed to solve the non-dimensional governing equations. The modeling approach and the accuracy of the utilized numerical approach are verified by comparison of the results with several experimental and numerical studies, available in the literature. The effect of conjugate wall thickness, inclination angle, and the porous layer thickness on the phase change heat transfer of PCM is investigated. The outcomes show that the rates of melting and heat transfer are enhanced as the thickness of the porous layer increases. The melting rate is the highest when the inclination angle of the enclosure is 45°. An increase in the wall thickness improves the melting rate.

     

Natural convection in an inclined quadrantal cavity heated and cooled on adjacent walls

Natural convective flow and heat transfer in an inclined quadrantal cavity is studied experimentally and numerically. The particle tracing method is used to visualize the fluid motion in the enclosure. Numerical solutions are obtained via a commercial CFD package, Fluent. The working fluid is distilled water. The effects of the inclination angle, ? and the Rayleigh number, Ra on fluid flow and heat transfer are investigated for the range of angle of inclination between 0° ? ? ? 360°, and Ra from 10⁵ to 10⁷. It is disclosed that heat transfer changes dramatically according to the inclination angle which affects convection currents inside, i.e. flow physics inside. A fairly good agreement is observed between the experimental and numerical results.     

Measurement of soil reaction forces on a single movable lug

In order to clarify characteristics of a new mechanism called a movable lug, a model of a single movable lug equipped with an L-shaped force transducer has been developed. The soil reaction forces (normal and tangential) on a flat single movable lug, a curved single movable lug and a fixed lug were measured on wet sandy loam soil in the laboratory soil bin test. These measured forces then were converted to lug pull and lift forces. The pull and lift forces obtained by the flat movable lug with 45° lug inclination angle and the curved movable lug were higher than those of the fixed lug. It was observed that the lift force of the fixed lug achieved its peak and dropped earlier than those of the movable lugs. However, the peaks of pull and lift forces of the flat and curved movable lugs were almost the same. The flat movable lug with 45° lug inclination angle generated a slightly higher peak of pull force than those with 30° and 60° lug inclination angles. However, the higher lug inclination angle produced, the lower peak of lift force. It was observed that the pull and lift forces increased as the sinkage increased. In contrast to the flat movable lug with 45° lug inclination angle, the curved movable lug produced greater lift force especially at high sinkage. The increase in lug slip from 5% to 25 and 50% caused an increase in the peaks of pull and lift forces. The soil moisture content affected the lug forces significantly.     

Experimental study on the magnetic convection in a vertical cylinder

The flow of paramagnetic fluid inside a cylinder placed in a bore of a superconducting magnet was studied experimentally. Single-phase closed thermosyphon configuration was employed. The lower side wall of the cylindrical enclosure was heated while the upper side wall was cooled with the thin adiabatic interface in between. The experiment was carried out with an aqueous solution of glycerol. The magnetic susceptibility of the working fluid was increased by adding Gd(NO₃)₃ × 6H₂O and was measured by a magnetic susceptibility balance. The encapsulated liquid crystal slurry (KWN-2025, Japan Capsular Product Inc.) dispersed in the working fluid was illuminated in the middle height horizontal cross-section of the enclosure to visualize the temperature field. The color images of flow mode were taken by a digital camera. The average heat transfer rates were also measured. Depending on the Rayleigh number, different spoke patterns were observed. The number of angular structures (spokes) increased with increase not only in the Rayleigh number but also in the strength of magnetic field. The heated fluid was repelled by the magnetic field, while the cooled fluid was attracted. The magnetic field enhanced the heat transfer rate.     

Mixed convection flow in a lid-driven inclined square enclosure filled with a nanofluid

This work is focused on the numerical modeling of steady laminar mixed convection flow in a lid-driven inclined square enclosure filled with water–Al₂O₃ nanofluid. The left and right walls of the enclosure are kept insulated while the bottom and top walls are maintained at constant temperatures with the top surface being the hot wall and moving at a constant speed. The developed equations are given in terms of the stream function–vorticity formulation and are non-dimensionalized and then solved numerically subject to appropriate boundary conditions by a second-order accurate finite-volume method. Comparisons with previously published work are performed and found to be in good agreement. A parametric study is conducted and a set of graphical results is presented and discussed to illustrate the effects of the presence of nanoparticles and enclosure inclination angle on the flow and heat transfer characteristics. It is found that significant heat transfer enhancement can be obtained due to the presence of nanoparticles and that this is accentuated by inclination of the enclosure at moderate and large Richardson numbers.     

Numerical computation of natural convection in an isosceles triangular cavity with a partially active base and filled with a Cu–water nanofluid

This paper discusses the results of a study related to natural convection cooling of a heat source located on the bottom wall of an inclined isosceles triangular enclosure filled with a Cu water-nanofluid. The right and left walls of the enclosure are both maintained cold at constant equal temperatures, while the remaining parts of the bottom wall are insulated. The study has been carried out for a Rayleigh number in the range 10⁴ ≤ Ra ≤ 10⁶, for a heat source length in the range 0.2 ≤ ε ≤0.8, for a solid volume fraction in the range 0 ≤ ?≤0.06 and for an inclination angle in the range 0° ≤ δ≤45°. Results are presented in the form of streamline contours, isotherms, maximum temperature at the heat source surface and average Nusselt number. It is noticed that the addition of Cu nanoparticles enhances the heat transfer rate and therefore cooling effectiveness for all values of Rayleigh number, especially at low values of Ra. The effect of the inclination angle becomes more noticeable as one increases the value of Ra. For high Rayleigh numbers, a critical value for the inclination angle of δ = 15° is found for which the heat source maximum temperature is highest.     

Magnetic and Gravitational Convection of Air in a Porous Cubic Enclosure with a Coil Inclined Around the Y Axis

The natural convection heat transfer of air in a porous media can be controlled by gradient magnetic field. Thermomagnetic convection of air in a porous cubic enclosure with an electric coil inclined around the $Y$ axis was numerically investigated. The Biot–Savart law was used to calculate the magnetic field. The governing equations in primitive variables were discretized by the finite-volume method and solved by the SIMPLE algorithm. The flow and temperature fields for the air natural convection were presented and the mean Nusselt number on the hot wall was calculated and compared. The results show that both the magnetic force and coil inclination have significant effect on the flow field and heat transfer in a porous cubic enclosure, the natural convection heat transfer of air can be enhanced or controlled by applying gradient magnetic field.