Natural convection in a vertical rectangular enclosure with localized heating and cooling zones

Experimental and numerical studies of natural convection in a single phase, closed thermosyphon were carried out using a vertical, rectangular enclosure model. Only one vertical plate plays the role of heat transfer surface having 100 mm height and 100 mm width, and others act as the adiabatic wall made of transparent plexi-glass. The heat transfer surface is separated into three horizontal zones with an equal height; top 1/3 and bottom 1/3 of the surface are cooling and heating zones, respectively and intermediate section is an adiabatic zone. Water is used as the working fluid. Variable parameters are distance D between the heat transfer surface and an adiabatic plate opposite to the heat transfer plate, and temperature difference ΔT between heating and cooling zones. By changing both D and ΔT, three regimes of the natural convection flow; quasi-two-dimensional steady, three-dimensional steady and unsteady flows are observed by means of thermo-sensitive liquid crystal powder and numerically simulated very well by solving a set of governing equations. Received on 17 January 2000     

Mixed convection boundary layer flow over a horizontal circular cylinder with Newtonian heating

The steady mixed convection boundary layer flow over a horizontal circular cylinder, generated by Newtonian heating in which the heat transfer from the surface is proportional to the local surface temperature, is considered in this study. The governing boundary layer equations are first transformed into a system of non-dimensional equations via the non-dimensional variables, and then into non-similar equations before they are solved numerically using a numerical scheme known as the Keller-box method. Numerical solutions are obtained for the skin friction coefficient Re ^1/2 C _f and the local wall temperature θ _w (x) as well as the velocity and temperature profiles with two parameters, namely the mixed convection parameter λ and the Prandtl number Pr.     

MHD mixed convection stagnation-point flow of a nanofluid over a vertical permeable surface: a comprehensive report of dual solutions

The steady laminar magnetohydrodynamic mixed convection boundary layer flow of a nanofluid near the stagnation-point on a vertical permeable plate with prescribed external flow and surface temperature is investigated in this study. Here, both assisting and opposing flows are considered and studied. Using appropriate similarity variables, the governing equations are transformed into nonlinear ordinary differential equations in the dimensionless stream function, which is solved numerically using the Runge–Kutta scheme coupled with a conventional shooting procedure. Three different types of nanoparticles, namely copper Cu, alumina Al₂O₃ and titania TiO₂ with water as the base fluid are considered. Numerical results are obtained for the skin-friction coefficient and Nusselt number as well as for the velocity and temperature profiles for some values of the governing parameters, namely, the volume fraction of nanoparticles ?, permeability parameter f _o , magnetic parameter M and mixed convection parameter λ. It is found that dual solutions exist for both assisting and opposing flows, and the range of the mixed convection parameter for which the solution exists, increases with suction, magnetic field and volume fraction of nanoparticles.     

Numerical study of steady magneto-convection around an adiabatic body inside a square enclosure in low Prandtl numbers

In this paper, the effects of Prandtl number on the steady magneto-convection around a centrally located adiabatic body inside a square enclosure are numerically investigated. Two-dimensional nonlinear governing equations are discretized using the control volume method and hybrid scheme. The equations are solved using SIMPLER algorithm. The results are displayed in the form of streamlines and isotherms when the Rayleigh number varies between 10³ and 10⁶, the Hartmann number changes between 0 and 100 and the Prandtl number ranges between 0.005 and 0.1. The ratio of the buoyancy force to the Lorentz force (Ra/Ha ²) is introduced as an index to compare the contribution of natural convection and magnetic field strength on heat transfer. The results obtained from numerical modeling show that the Prandtl number has not considerable effect on heat transfer at low Rayleigh numbers. The effect of magnetic field strength on convection is increased by increasing Prandtl number. The effect of Prandtl number on the average Nusselt number in the presence of a magnetic field is less than the case without a magnetic field.     

On pattern selection in mixed convection in rectangular ducts

Mixed convection in a horizontal rectangular duct has the same critical Rayleigh number as natural convection in a rectangular cavity for the onset of convection. The linear stability analysis predicts either an odd or an even number of convective rolls to appear depending on the aspect ratio of the cross section. However, it has been shown both experimentally and numerically that an even number of convective rolls appears under supercritical conditions for fully developed mixed convection. The paper first presents an analytical solution for the buoyancy-induced mainstream velocity, w ^b , at the onset of buoyancy-induced motion in a forced convective flow. Then, a comparison in the initial growth rate of w ^b is made between the case of an odd and an even number of rolls; which shows the selection of an even number of rolls over an odd number in mixed convection except for low aspect ratio ducts.     

Analytical and numerical study of natural convection heat transfer in an inclined composite enclosure

Laminar natural convection heat transfer in inclined fluid layers divided by a partition with finite thickness and conductivity is studied analytically and numerically. The governing equations for the fluid layers are solved analytically in the limit of a thin layered system with constant flux boundary conditions. The study covers of the range of Ra from 10³ to 10⁷, from 0° to 180° and the thermal conductivity ratio of partition to fluid ratioK from 10^–2 to 10⁶. The Prandtl number was 0.72 (for air). Results are obtained in terms of an overall Nusselt number as a function of Rayleigh number, angle of inclination of the system, mid layer thickness, and mid layer thermal conductivity. The critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection in a bottom-heated horizontal system is predicted. The results are compared with the numerical results obtained by solving the complete system of governing equations, using SIMPLER method, as well as with the limiting cases in the literature.     

Computational study of combined effects of conduction-radiation and hydromagnetics on natural convection flow past magnetized permeable plate

The computational study of the combined effects of radiation and hydromagnetics on the natural convection flow of a viscous,incompressible,and electrically conducting fluid past a magnetized permeable vertical plate is presented.The governing non-similar equations are numerically solved by using a finite difference method for all values of the suction parameter ξ and the asymptotic solution for small and large values of ξ.The effects of varying the Prandtl number P r,the magnetic Prandtl number P r m,the magnetic force parameter S,the radiation parameter R d,and the surface temperature θ w on the coefficients of the skin friction,the rate of heat transfer,and the current density are shown graphically and in tables.An attempt is made to examine the effects of the above mentioned physical parameters on the velocity profile,the temperature distribution,and the transverse component of the magnetic field.     

Transient natural convection between concentric and vertically eccentric spheres with mixed boundary conditions

Transient analysis has been investigated numerically to determine heat transfer by natural convection between concentric and vertically eccentric spheres with constant heat flux on the inner wall and a specified isothermal temperature on the outer wall. The governing equations, in terms of vorticity, stream function and temperature are expressed in a spherical polar coordinate system. The alternating direction implicit method and the successive over-relaxation techniques are applied to solve the finite difference form of governing equations. A physical model is introduced which accounts for the effects of fluid buoyancy as well as eccentricity of the outer sphere. Transient solutions of the entire flow field are obtained for a range of modified Rayleigh number (10³<Ra?<5×10⁵), for a Prandtl number of 0.7 and a radius ratio of 2.0, with the outer sphere near the top and bottom of the inner sphere (ε=±0.625). Results of the parametric study conducted further reveal that the heat and flow fields are primarily dependent on the modified Rayleigh number and the eccentricity of the spherical annulus. The results of average Nusselt numbers are also compared with the results obtained for flow between two isothermal spheres.     

Combined forced and free convective flow of water at 4°C past a semi-infinite vertical plate

Effects of buoyancy forces on forced and free convective flow of water at 4°C past a semi-infinite vertical plate at constant temperature are studied. Flow is assumed to be vertically upwards. Similarity solutions are derived and the resulting equations are solved numerically on a computer. Velocity and temperature profiles are shown graphically and numerical values of the skin friction and the rate of heat transfer are entered in tables. It is observed that the skin friction and the Nusselt number increase with increasing Gr/Re², where Gr is the Grashof number and Re is the Reynolds number     

A numerical study of transient natural convection under time-dependent gravitational acceleration field

A transient natural convection caused by abruptly heating of a vertical wall in a square enclosure which is under time-dependent gravitational acceleration field is studied numerically. During the computing process, a penalty finite element method is adopted to solve the governing equations. The factor of the time-dependent gravitational acceleration is included in Rayleigh number, therefore two variation of Rayleigh number are considered, one is from 10⁵ via 10⁶ to ? 10⁵ and the other is from 10⁴ via 10⁵ to ? 10⁴. Since the variations of flow field and temperature distribution of the fluid in the square enclosure are complicated and unpredictable, the isotherms, streamlines and time dependent heat transfer rate are examined for investigating the heat transfer mechanism during the transient process. The results show that the agreement of the heat transfer rate of this study with that of quasi-steady state is mainly dependent on the response of the variation rate of boundary layer along the vertical walls to that of time-dependent gravitational acceleration.     

Natural convection of nanofluid over vertical plate embedded in porous medium: prescribed surface heat flux

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the natural convection heat and mass transfer of nanofluids over a vertical plate embedded in a saturated Darcy porous medium subjected to surface heat and nanoparticle fluxes. To carry out the numerical solution, two steps are performed. The governing partial differential equations are firstly simplified into a set of highly coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations by appropriate similarity variables, and then numerically solved by the finite difference method. The obtained similarity solution depends on four non-dimensional parameters, i.e., the Brownian motion parameter (N _b), the Buoyancy ratio (N _r), the thermophoresis parameter (N _t), and the Lewis number (Le). The variations of the reduced Nusselt number and the reduced Sherwood number with N _b and N _t for various values of Le and N _r are discussed in detail. Simulation results depict that the increase in N _b, N _t, or N _r decreases the reduced Nusselt number. An increase in the Lewis number increases both of the reduced Nusselt number and the Sherwood number. The results also reveal that the nanoparticle concentration boundary layer thickness is much thinner than those of the thermal and hydrodynamic boundary layers.     

Combined convection and wall conduction effects in laminar pipe flow: numerical predictions and experimental validation under uniform wall heating

Laminar combined convection in horizontal circular ducts is investigated both numerically and experimentally, under uniform wall heating. A series of experiments for the heating of water in a long horizontal copper tube are simulated numerically in order to assess the reliability of the theoretical results. Peripheral and axial wall conduction effects, inherently present in the experiments, are accounted for in the numerical model. The cross validation of experimental and numerical data allows significant conclusions to be reached on conjugate conduction and convection with buoyancy effects in horizontal duct flows. Buoyancy is considered for values of the modified Rayleigh number,Ra _qo , up to 5·10⁶; the forced convection contribution is considered for two values of the entry Reynolds number,Re _o=500 and 1000.     

Onset of instability in CO2 sequestration into saline aquifer: scaling relationship and the effect of perturbed boundary

Storage and disposal of greenhouse gases in saline aquifers is an important solution for reduction of these gases from atmosphere. Understanding the concepts and mechanisms involved in the storage process, especially natural convection and their impact on long-term fate of injected CO₂ are essential. Natural convection is an effective mechanism which increases solubility of carbon dioxide in the storage process. In this work, injection of carbon dioxide into aquifer is numerically simulated. First, numerical criteria are developed to provide numerical accuracy and stability by mesh resolution. Then, changes in input wave number in surface perturbation and order of element used in finite element method were analyzed. It was found that depending on Rayleigh number, there is a wave number at which instability occurs earlier and grows faster. Also, onset of CO₂ convective mixing in saline aquifers was obtained and correlated for a number of field cases. Results show that onset of convection can be approximated by a scaling relationship for dimensionless time as a function of inverse square of Rayleigh number, Ra ^?2, for Rayleigh range used in this work. This scaling relationship provides a predictive tool for onset of convection and also long-term fate of disposed CO₂ in large scale geological sequestration.     

Finite difference analysis of unsteady natural convection flow along an inclined plate with variable surface temperature and mass diffusion

An analysis is performed to study the transient laminar natural convection flows along an inclined semi-infinite flat plate in which the wall temperatureT _w ^′ and species concentration on the wallC _w ^′ vary as the power of the axial co-ordinate in the formT _w ^′ (x)=T _∞ ^′ +ax ⁿ andC _w ^′ =C _∞ ^′ +bx ^m respectively. The dimensionless governing equations considered here are unsteady, two-dimensional, coupled and non-linear integro-differential equations. A finite difference scheme of Crank-Nicolson type is employed to solve the problem. The velocity, temperature, concentration, skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are studied in detail for various sets of values of parameters. Correlation equations are also established for Nusselt number and Sherwood number in terms of parameters.     

Mixed convection from an isothermal vertical flat plate moving in parallel or reversely to a free stream

Mixed convection heat transfer from a vertically moving plate to a flowing free stream is investigated. The plate moves either in parallel or reversely to the free stream; and the buoyancy force accelerates or retards the flow. An universal formulation can be obtained from which similarity and nonsimilarity equations for six limiting cases of forced, natural, and mixed convection can be readily reduced. Accurate finite-difference solutions and comprehensive correlations of heat transfer rate for 0.01≤Pr≤10000 are presented over the entire domains of mixed convection and relative velocity.     

Non-Darcy buoyancy driven flows in a fluid saturated porous medium: the use of asymptotic computational fluid dynamics (ACFD) approach

Natural convection in a fluid saturated porous medium has been numerically investigated using a generalized non-Darcy approach. The governing equations are solved by using Finite Volume approach. First order upwind scheme is employed for convective formulation and SIMPLE algorithm for pressure velocity coupling. Numerical results are presented to study the influence of parameters such as Rayleigh number (10⁶ ≤Ra ≤10⁸), Darcy number (10⁻⁵ ≤ Da ≤ 10⁻²), porosity (0.4 ≤ ɛ ≤ 0.9) and Prandtl number (0.01 ≤ Pr ≤ 10) on the flow behavior and heat transfer. By combining the method of matched asymptotic expansions with computational fluid dynamics (CFD), so called asymptotic computational fluid dynamics (ACFD) technique has been employed to generate correlation for average Nusselt number. The technique is found to be an attractive option for generating correlation and also in the analysis of natural convection in porous medium over a fairly wide range of parameters with fewer simulations for numerical solutions.     

Mixed convection boundary layer flow past a wedge with permeable walls

The effects of suction/injection on steady laminar mixed convection boundary layer flow over a permeable horizontal surface of a wedge in a viscous and incompressible fluid is considered in this paper. The similarity solutions of the governing boundary layer equations are obtained for some values of the suction/injection parameter f ₀, the constant exponent m of the wall temperature as well as the mixed convection parameter λ. The resulting system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations is solved numerically for both assisting and opposing flow regimes using an implicit finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Numerical results for the reduced skin friction coefficient, the local Nusselt number, and the velocity and temperature profiles are obtained for various values of parameters considered. Dual solutions are found to exist for the case of opposing flow.     

Natural convection over a vertical flat plate due to absorption of thermal radiation

Heat transfer by simultaneous free convection and radiation in a participating fluid has received some attention during the past few years. However most of the previous work has been focussed on gases. The present work investigates the problem of combined radiation and natural convection in liquids. Analysis are given for an optically thick cold fluid layer adjacent to a non-emitting and non-reflecting radiation-transmitting plate. The external surface of the plate is subjected to heat loss to surroundings. The governing differential equations are transformed to a dimensionless form where the solution becomes dependent on the following parameters: the plate absorpitivity,α _p; the dimensionless distance along the plate,ζ; the fluid Prandtl number,Pr; and dimensionless heat loss coefficient to surrounding,N _c. A local non-similar technique is adopted to obtain solutions atPr=6.5 and at a wide range ofα _p,ζ, andN _c. The results showed that both velocity and temperature are non-similar and they are greatly affected by the value ofα _p whenζ is small. At large values of f the effect ofα _p diminishes and for a plate without heat loss the velocity becomes similar, i.e. independent of C The heat loss from the external surface of the plate causes the maximum temperature of the fluid to depart far from the plate. The results also showed that for plates without heat loss the local heat transfer coefficient from the plate depends on the local Grashof number to the power 0.185.     

Turbulent natural convection in a square enclosure bounded by a solid wall with localized heating

Turbulent natural convection and conduction in a square enclosure bounded by a massive wall with a localized heating is numerically studied. The bounding solid wall has a relative thermal conductivity of 10 and a relative thickness of 0.1. Losses to the surroundings are specified using a Biot number of 500. Two-dimensional equations of conservation of mass, momentum and energy, with the Boussinesq approximation and using the κ-ε model for turbulence are solved using finite difference method. Grids are generated in a nonuniform manner so that steep gradients near the wall regions are accounted for as required. Numerical solution is obtained for Ra numbers ranging from 10⁶ to 10¹³. The position of the source is also investigated. It is found that the heat transfer by convection is the highest when the heat source is located at the upper part of the cavity. The turbulent properties show also the same conclusion. Received on 4 November 1998     

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.