Natural convection in inclined partitioned enclosures

The problem of steady, laminar, natural convective flow of a viscous fluid in an inclined enclosure with partitions is considered. Transverse gradient of temperature is applied on the two opposing regular walls of the inclined enclosure while the other walls are maintained adiabatic. The problem is formulated in terms of the vorticity-stream function procedure. A numerical solution based on the finite volume method is obtained. Representative results illustrating the effects of the enclosure inclination angle and the degree of irregularity on the contour maps of the streamlines and temperature are reported and discussed. In addition, results for the average Nusselt number at the heated wall of the enclosure and the difference of extreme stream-function values are presented and discussed for various Rayleigh numbers, inclination angles and dimensionless partition heights.     

Core stratification effects on natural convection in inclined cavities

A numerical and experimental study has been made on the flow and heat transfer in inclined air-filled cavities with aspect ratios 1–18 at Ra numbers from 2·10⁴–5·10⁵ and angles of inclination from 40 to 90°. Core stratification influences the flow. Due to this there arises a torque with two components depending on angle of inclination. On basis of the two torques the computed effects on flow and temperature fields can be explained. For the heat transfer a scaling law could be derived. Experimental data validate the numerical studies.     

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.     

Natural convection in inclined rectangular enclosures with perfectly conducting fins attached on the heated wall

The natural convection heat transfer in inclined rectangular enclosures with perfectly conducting fins attached to the heated wall is numerically studied. The parameters governing this problem are the Rayleigh number (10²≤Ra≤2×10⁵), the aspect ratio of the enclosures (2.5≤A=H′/L′≤∞), the dimensionless lengths of the partitions (0≤B=?′/L′≤1), the aspect ratio of micro-cavities (A≤C=h′/L′≤0.33), the inclination angle (0≤φ≤60^°) and the Prandtl number (Pr=0.72). The results indicate that the heat transfer through the cover is considerably affected by the presence of the fins. At low Rayleigh numbers, the heat transfer regime is dominated by conduction. When B≈0.75 and C≈0.33, the heat transfer through the cold wall decreases considerably. This trend is enhanced when the enclosure is inclined. Useful engineering correlations are derived for practical applications.     

Natural convection in partially cooled tilted cavities

Two-dimensional numerical simulations of laminar natural convection in a partially cooled, differentially heated inclined cavities are performed. One of the cavity walls is entirely heated to a uniformly high temperature (heat source) while the opposite wall is partially cooled to a lower temperature (heat sink). The remaining walls are adiabatic. The tilt angle of the cavity is varied from 0° (heated from left) to −90° (heated from top). The fast false implicit transient scheme (FITS) algorithm, developed earlier by the same authors, is modified to solve the derived variables vorticity-streamfunction formulation. The effects of aspect ratio (AR), sink–source ratio and tilt angle on the average Nusselt number are examined through a parametric study; solutions are obtained for two Grashof numbers, 10⁵ and 10⁷. Flow patterns and isotherms are used to investigate the heat transfer and fluid flow mechanisms inside the cavity. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Natural convection in cavities containing internal sources

 Numerical predictions are reported for buoyancy-induced circulations in a 2D closed cavity with internal heat sources. Two cases are considered: (A) two vertical plates with uniform heat generation, forming a short vertical channel within the enclosure; and, (B) a rectangular heating block with uniform wall temperature, placed central in the enclosure. Air, with a Prandtl number 0.71, is considered as the working fluid. The vertical enclosure walls are isothermal, while the horizontal enclosure walls are adiabatic. Results are presented for two values of the Grashof number, one below the stability limit for laminar flow, and one well above it. In those latter cases, the long-term behaviour of the numerical solution is time-dependent, i.e. no steady-state can be reached. Heat transfer results are compared with predictions from standard correlations for isolated surfaces. Received on 17 January 2000     

Interferometric study of natural convection in rectangular air cavities of various orientations

The results of an experimental investigation into the temperature profiles and heat transfer associated with natural convection in rectangular air cavities are presented, the angle of inclination varying from 0 (heating at the bottom) to 180° (heating at the top). The range of Rayleigh numbers was R=2.68·10³–2.57·10⁵, and n=H/d=5.06–18.3. The investigation was carried out by an optical method, using an IZK-454 interferometer. For a horizontal orientation of the cavity the heat-transfer data satisfy the relation N=0.216 R^0.25, for a vertical orientation N=0.144 R^0.3h^–0.129, where N is the Nusselt number. In the region of an inclination of 30° the heat transfer passes through a maximum under all conditions studied.Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 89–93, July–August, 1972.     

Free convection of a liquid binary mixture in an inclined rectangular cavity

A study is made of the influence of an inclination on the distribution of concentrations produced by thermal diffusion in a cavity of rectangular section. It is shown that even a very weak convective motion produced in the cavity in the case of heating from above leads to significant perturbations of the concentration field.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 176–179, July–August, 1979.We thank G. Z. Gershuni, Yu. K. Bratukhin, and V. I. Chernatynskii for discussing the results and for helpful comments.     

矩形倾斜腔体中的两种对流斑图和分区

为了研究矩形倾斜腔体中普朗特数Pr=0.72的流体对流斑图和分区,本文基于流体力学方程组进行了数值模拟。在相对瑞利数r=6.0的情况下,观察了倾角θ=10°和θ=60°时对流斑图随着时间的发展,发现系统存在单圈型对流和多圈型对流两种斑图。流线随着倾角的变化说明:随着倾角增加,对流圈数逐渐减少,对流波长逐渐增加,对流波数减小;然后,随着对流圈数显著地减少,系统由多圈型对流过渡到单圈型对流。根据模拟计算结果,给出了多圈型对流过渡到单圈型对流的临界倾角θc随着相对瑞利数r变化的关系曲线。对流在θ-r平面上分为两个区域:θ<θc时系统是单圈型对流,θ>θc时系统是多圈型对流。对流最大振幅A和努塞尔数Nu随着倾角θ的变化曲线被临界倾角θc分成两段,它们有不同的变化规律。因此,临界倾角也可以由对流最大振幅A或努塞尔数Nu的变化曲线来确定。     

Ice-water convection in an inclined rectangular cavity filled with a porous medium

This paper reports on the results of a numerical study on the equilibrium state of the convection of water in the presence of ice in an inclined rectangular cavity filled with a porous medium. One side of the cavity is maintained at a temperature higher than the fusion temperature while the opposite side is cooled to a temperature lower than the fusion temperature. The two remaining sides are insulated. Results are analysed in terms of the density inversion parameter, the tilt angle, and the cooling temperature. It appears that the phenomenon of density inversion plays an important role in the equilibrium of an ice-water system when the heating temperature is below 20°. In a vertical cavity, the density inversion causes the formation of two counterrotating vortices leading to a water volume which is wider at the bottom than at the top. When the cavity is inclined, there exist two branches of solutions which exhibit the bottom heating and the side heating characteristics, respectively (the Bénard and side heating branches). Due to the inversion of density, the solution on the Bénard branch may fail to converge to a steady state at small tilt angles and exhibits an oscillating behavior. On the side heating branch, a maximum heat transfer rate is obtained at a tilt angle of about 70° but the water volume was found to depend very weakly on the inclination of the cavity. Under the effect of subcooling, the interplay between conduction in the solid phase and convection in the liquid leads to an equilibrium ice-water interface which is most distorted at some intermediate cooling temperature.     

Natural convection heat transfer along vertical rectangular ducts

Experimental investigations have been reported on steady state natural convection from the outer surface of vertical rectangular and square ducts in air. Seven ducts have been used; three of them have a rectangular cross section and the rest have square cross section. The ducts are heated using internal constant heat flux heating elements. The temperatures along the vertical surface and the peripheral directions of the duct wall are measured. Axial (perimeter averaged) heat transfer coefficients along the side of each duct are obtained for laminar and transition to turbulent regimes of natural convection heat transfer. Axial (perimeter averaged) Nusselt numbers are evaluated and correlated using the modified Rayleigh numbers for laminar and transition regime using the vertical axial distance as a characteristic length. Critical values of the modified Rayleigh numbers are obtained for transition to turbulent. Furthermore, total overall averaged Nusselt numbers are correlated with the modified Rayleigh numbers and the area ratio for the laminar regimes. The local axial (perimeter averaged) heat transfer coefficients are observed to decrease in the laminar region and increase in the transition region. Laminar regimes are obtained at the lower half of the ducts and its chance to appear decreases as the heat flux increases.     

Three dimensional finite element analysis for Rayleight-Benard convection in rectangular enclosures

The pattern of Rayleigh-Benard convection of air in a rectangular box heated-from-below is studied by numerically solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations under the Boussinesq approximation. Slightly supercritical Rayleigh number was adopted to track the evolutions of flow structure as a function of enclosure's aspect ratio (A=L/H). The flow will asymptotically evolve to different patterns, among which, two possible types of flow pattern are found. One consists of the pair of straight vortex rolls and the other appears as closed vortex rings. The transition between the flow patterns indicates that there exists a flow bifurcation with the variation of container's aspect ratio. In addition, both steady and oscillatory flows have been observed, corresponding to the pair of straight vortex rolls and the vortex ring, respectively. The complexity of flow structure tends to increase with the increasing aspect ratio of the rectangular enclosure. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (19889210), the National Distinguished Young Fund (10125210), the Hundred Talents Program of CAS, and the Training Program for the Trans-Century Outstanding Young of MOE     

Natural convection in a rectangular cavity. An analytic solution

Summary An analytic solution is given to a problem of natural convection in a rectangular cavity, by means of a Papkovich-Fadle series. The convergence of the method is numerically proven and the results are compared with those obtained by several other methods. The considered solution procedure shows definite advantages with respect to the other techniques.

---

Sommario Si fornisce, per mezzo della serie di Papkovich-Fadle, una soluzione analitica per un problema di convezione naturale in una cavità rettangolare. La convergenza del metodo è numericamente provata e i risultati sono confrontati con quelli ottenuti con altri metodi. La soluzione proposta tramite la serie è in tal caso vantaggiosa rispetto alle altre tecniche.

---

---

This work has been partially supported by C.N.R. through grant n. 81.01501.11.     

Natural convection in rectangular enclosures with partial heating and cooling

The flow and heat transfer in partially heated and partially cooled cavities were numerically analyzed. Using the control volume approach, a computer program based on SIMPLE algorithm was developed. A square enclosure with variable size heater and cooler on the vertical walls was considered. Computations were carried out to investigate the effects of heater and cooler size on the heat transfer rate. It was observed that for a given cooler size, the mean Nusselt number decreases with increasing heater size. On the other hand, for a given heater size, the mean Nusselt number increases with increasing cooler size. For all Rayleigh numbers considered, the same behavior was observed.

---

Natürliche Konvektion in geschlossenen Räumen mit partieller Heizung und Kühlung der Wände

Zusammenfassung Es wurde ein numerisches Modell zur Analyse des Strömungs- und Wärmeübergangsverhaltens in teilweise beheizten und gekühlten Hohlräumen entwickelt und unter Verwendung des Kontrollvolumenprinzips und des Algorithmus SIMPLE als Computer-Programm formuliert. Der Hohlraum ist rechteckig und die variablen Heiz- und Kühlflächen befinden sich auf gegenüberliegenden Vertikalseiten. Hauptziel der Berechnungen war es, den Einfluß der variablen Heiz- und Kühlflächen auf den Wärmeübergang zu ermitteln. Für eine bestimmte Kühlergröße zeigte sich eine Abnahme der gemittelten Nußelt-Zahl mit zunehmender Heizfläche. Andererseits — bei gegebener Heizfläche — stieg die Nußelt-Zahl mit der Kühlfläche an. Dieses Verhalten wurde bei allen untersuchten Rayleighzahlen gefunden.

---

Nomenclature g gravitational acceleration - H height of cavity - k thermal conductivity of fluid - l _C cooler size - l _H heater size - mean Nusselt number - Nu _y local Nusselt number - P pressure - Pr Prandtl number - Ra Rayleigh number (Ra = gH ³(T _H –T _C)/()) - T temperature - T _C temperature of cold surface - T _H temperature of hot surface - T _R reference temperature (T _R = (T _C +T _H)/2) - u velocity component inx-direction - x horizontal axis - v velocity component iny-direction - y vertical axis Greek symbols thermal diffusivity - thermal expansion coefficient - density of fluid - stream function - kinematic viscosity     

Natural convection in vertical cavities with internal heat generating porous medium

Steady natural convection heat transfer in a two dimensional cavity filled with a uniform heat generating, saturated porous medium has been studied. The boundary conditions were: Two isothermal walls at different temperatures, two horizontal adiabatic walls. The aspect ratio was varied from 0.1 to 10 and the Rayleigh number from 10⁰ to 10⁸. The results are presented in terms of the isotherms and stream functions, the temperature variation and maximum temperature in the cavity and heat transfer from the vertical walls. The study indicates that asymmetric vertical boundary conditions with _h >0 has an important effect on the temperature and flow fields as well as on the heat transfer characteristics of the cavity with highly asymmetric results. Various heat transfer modes are identified dependent on the Rayleigh number and the aspect ratio.Es wurde stetiger Wärmeübergang durch freie Konvektion in einen zweidimensionalen Hohlraum, gefüllt mit gleichmäßig wärmeerzeugendem porösen Medium, untersucht. Dabei wurden folgende Randbedingungen festgelegt: zwei isotherme Wände unterschiedlicher Temperatur, zwei horizontale adiabate Wände. Das Verhältnis vonH/L wurde zwischen 0,1 und 10, die Rayleigh-Zahl zwischen 10⁰ und 10⁸ variiert. Die Ergebnisse werden durch Terme der Temperaturverläufe, der maximalen Temperatur im Hohlraum, der Isothermen und der Strömungsfunktion, sowie der Wärmeübertragung der vertikalen Wände dargestellt. Die Studie zeigt, daß asymmetrische Randbedingungen mit _h >0 einen großen Einfluß auf Temperatur- und Strömungsfelder, als auch auf die Wärmeübertragungskennzahlen des Hohlraumes mit stark asymmetrischen Ergebnissen haben. Die verschiedenen Arten der Wärmeübertragung werden in Abhängigkeit von der Rayleigh-Zahl und dem Verhältnis vonH/L beschrieben.     

Experimental investigation of mixed convection heat transfer in a horizontal and inclined rectangular channel

 Mixed convection heat transfer in rectangular channels has been investigated experimentally under various operating conditions. The lower surface of the channel is subjected to a uniform heat flux, sidewalls are insulated and adiabatic, and the upper surface is exposed to the surrounding fluid. Experiments were conducted for Pr=0.7, aspect ratios AR=5 and 10, inclination angles 0° ≤ θ ≤ 30°, Reynolds numbers 50 ≤ Re ≤ 1000, and modified Grashof numbers Gr*=7.0 × 10⁵ to 4.0 × 10⁷. From the parametric study, local Nusselt number distributions were obtained and effects of channel inclination, surface heat flux and Reynolds number on the onset of instability were investigated. Results related to the buoyancy affected secondary flow and the onset of instability have been discussed. Some of the results obtained from the experimental measurements are also compared with the literature, and a good agreement was observed. The onset of instability was found to move upstream for increasing Grashof number and increasing aspect ratio. On the other hand, onset of instability was delayed for increasing Reynolds number and increasing inclination angle. Received on 19 March 2001 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Natural convection in an inclined porous enclosure with an off-center diathermal partition

A numerical study has been made of natural convection in an inclinded porous enclosure with an off-center diathermal partition. A temperature difference is imposed between the two isothermal end walls and the other two walls are assumed to be adiabatic. Numerical results are obtained for Rayleigh numbers (Ra) in the range of 10 to 500, the dimensionless partition location ( \(\bar S\) ) ranging from 0.125 to 0.875, the aspect ratios (A) of the enclosure ranging from 0.5 to 5, and the inclination angles (φ) of ?60, ?30, 0, 30, 60 degrees. It is found that the partition location has strong influence at lowRa and relatively weaker influence at highRa. The average Nusselt number reaches the minimum value when the partition is in the middle of the vertical enclosure, and the maximum Nusselt number occurs around φ = 30 degrees.     

Effect of free convection on thermodiffusion in a liquid mixture filling an inclined rectangular cavity

The convective motion which develops in an inclined cavity upon heating from above determines to a significant degree the form of the concentration field produced by thermodiffusion. The interaction of convective and thermodiffusion fluxes at small thermal Grashof numbers Gr causes the appearance of longitudinal jumps in concentration. Increase in temperature difference intensifies convection and encourages reduction in concentration gradients. The dominant role of convection for fixed Gr is determined by the angle of inclination of the liquid layer [1, 2]. A significant feature of liquid solutions is their low diffusion coefficient and thus high Schmidt number. This fact does not permit use of results obtained for gas mixtures, and greatly complicates numerical simulations. In contrast to [2], the present study will investigate thermodiffusion separation in a cavity with impermeable boundaries.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 5, pp. 73–76, September–October, 1986.In conclusion, the authors thank G. Z. Gershun for evaluation of the results and helpful remarks.