Numerical analysis on natural convection in various enclosures

Abstract

A numerical natural convection study has been carried out that studied various configurations for several enclosures. Conservation equations were solved using the finite volume method; transforming them into vorticity-stream functions. Several configurations are studied over a range of Rayleigh numbers that varied from 10³ to 10⁶; for walls that are heated, cooled or insulated. Results are presented using temperature and flow field plots; additionally local Nusselt numbers (Nu) are also presented for all Cases. Results demonstrate that the heat transfer increases as a function of the Rayleigh number; for low Rayleigh numbers (Ra), conduction dominates the heat transfer; as Ra increases, the effect of convection increases. Finally it was found that the presence of an inclined wall will suppress the convection process.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LY19E060004).