Nusselt-Rayleigh correlations for free convection in 2D air-filled parallelogrammic enclosures with isothermal active walls

In the present study Nu-Ra-α correlations are proposed to calculate the steady-state natural convection heat transfer taking place in 2D air-filled cavities of parallelogrammic section. The thermal conditions and the dimensions of the enclosures permit to cover a large range of Rayleigh numbers, 1.7 × 10³  ≤ Ra ≤ 3.0 × 10⁹, suitable for diverse engineering applications. The two active walls of the cavities are kept vertical and isothermal at hot and cold temperatures T _h and T _c respectively. Separated by a horizontal distance H, they have the same height H and are connected by a closed adiabatic channel whose upper and lower walls can be inclined at an angle α with respect to the horizontal, varying between −60° to +60°. That gives rise to a conducting or insulating cavity, in the convective sense of the term (diode cavity). A computational model based on the finite volume method is used to solve the governing equations. The large number of treated configurations led to propose Nu-Ra-α correlations for large ranges of Ra and α which can be applied to many engineering areas. The results of this numerical study have been successfully compared with calculated and measured available data.