UNSTEADY THREE-DIMENSIONAL NATURAL CONVECTION OF WATER COOLED INSIDE A CUBIC ENCLOSURE

Abstract

Three-dimensional unsteady natural convection of cooling water inside a cubical cavity at Ra = 10⁵ is investigated. The finite-volume method with the SIMPLE algorithm is used to solve the nonlinear coupled continuity, momentum, and energy equations. All physical water properties—density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, and specific heat—are allowed to change with temperature. The numerical results for the 3-D geometry show that the side effects are relevant in fluid mechanics and in heat transfer, with larger differences than with the 2-D predictions in the region where the density anomaly of water is important.

The authors would like to thank to CONICYT (Chile) for the support provided to the FONDECYT 1030209 project.