NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF MIXED CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER IN A HORIZONTAL CHANNEL WITH A BUILT-IN SQUARE CYLINDER

Abstract

Structures of laminar wakes and heat transfer in the presence of thermal buoyancy art investigated from the numerical solution of complete Navier-Stokes and energy equations in a two-dimensional horizontal channel with a built-in square cylinder. Results show that mixed convection can initiate periodicity and asymmetry in the wake at lower Reynolds numbers than forced convection alone. For a given Reynolds number, the heating of the fluid in the channel is improved by mixed convection up to a certain Grashof number and deteriorates if the Grashof number is further increased.