A numerical study of natural convection in a horizontal enclosure with a conducting body

The physical model considered here is a horizontal layer of fluid heated below and cold above with a conducting body placed at the center of the layer. The body has dimensionless thermal conductivities of 0.1, 1 and 50. Two-dimensional solution for unsteady natural convection is obtained using an accurate and efficient Chebyshev spectral methodology for different Rayleigh numbers. Multi-domain technique is used to handle a square-shaped conducting body. The results for the case of a conducting body are also compared to those of adiabatic and neutral isothermal bodies. When the dimensionless thermal conductivity is 0.1, a pattern of fluid flow and isotherms and the corresponding surface- and time-averaged Nusselt number are almost the same as the case of an adiabatic body. When the dimensionless thermal conductivity is 50, a pattern of flow and isotherm and the corresponding surface- and time-averaged Nusselt number are similar to those of neutral isothermal body. The results for the case of dimensionless thermal conductivity of unity are also compared to those of pure natural convection.     

Effect of Heat-Generating Solid Body on Mixed Convection Flow in a Ventilated Cavity

The mixed convection flow and heat transfer characteristics inside a square ventilated cavity with a heat-generating solid circular body located at the center have been investigated numerically. The inlet opening is at the bottom of the left wall, while the outlet one is at the top of the right wall, and all the walls of the cavity are considered to be adiabatic. A Galerkin weighted residual finite element method is used to solve the governing equations of mass, momentum, and energy. The behavior of the fluid in the ranges of dimensionless cylinder diameter from 0.1 to 0.6 of the heat generating body, thermal conductivity ratio range from 0.2 to 50 between solid and fluid, and heat generating parameter range from 1 to 5 is described in detail. The medium considered is air with a Prandtl number of 0.71. It is found that the flow and temperature field is strongly dependent on the already-mentioned parameters for the ranges considered. The variation of the mean Nusselt number, the dimensionless average drag force, and the average temperature of the fluid versus Richardson number are presented for these parameters.     

Entropy Generation of Natural Convection Heat Transfer in a Square Cavity Using Al2O3–Water Nanofluid

Entropy generation of an Al₂O₃–water nanofluid due to heat transfer and fluid friction irreversibility has been investigated in a square cavity subject to different side‐wall temperatures using a nanofluid for natural convection flow. This study has been carried out for the pertinent parameters in the following ranges: Rayleigh number between 10⁴ and 10⁷ and volume fraction between 0 and 0.05. Based on the obtained dimensionless velocity and temperature values, the distributions of local entropy generation, average entropy generation, and average Bejan number are determined. The results are compared for a pure fluid and a nanofluid. It is totally found that the heat transfer, and entropy generation of the nanofluid is more than the pure fluid and minimum entropy generation and Nusselt number occur in the pure fluid at any Rayleigh number. Results depict that the addition of nanoparticles to the pure fluid has more effect on the entropy generation as the Rayleigh number goes up.     

Heat transfer in the MHD flow of a power law fluid over a non-isothermal stretching sheet

The article examines the hydromagnetic laminar boundary layer flow and heat transfer in a power law fluid over a stretching surface. The flow is influenced by linear stretching of the sheet. Also the energy equation with temperature-dependent thermal conductivity, thermal radiation, work done by stress, viscous dissipation and internal heat generation is considered. The governing partial differential equations along with the boundary conditions are first cast into a dimensionless form and then the equations are solved by Keller–Box method. The effects of various physical parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are presented graphically and discussed.     

Natural convection in porous triangular enclosure with a centered conducting body

A numerical work was performed to examine the heat transfer and fluid flow due to natural convection in a porous triangular enclosure with a centered conducting body. The center of the body was located onto the gravity center of the right-angle triangular cavity. The Darcy law model was used to write the governing equations and they were solved using a finite difference method. Results are presented by streamlines, isotherms, mean and local Nusselt numbers for the different parameters such as the Rayleigh number, thermal conductivity ratio, and height and width of the body. It was observed that both height and width of the body and thermal conductivity ratio play an important role on heat and fluid flow inside the cavity.     

Entropy generation in a porous channel with hydromagnetic effect

An analytical work has been performed to study the First and Second Laws (of thermodynamics) characteristics of flow and heat transfer inside a vertical channel made of two parallel plates embedded in a porous medium and under the action of transverse magnetic field. Combined free and forced convection inside the channel is considered. Flow is assumed to be steady, laminar, fully developed of electrically conducting and heat-generating/absorbing fluid. Both vertical walls are kept isothermal at the same or different temperatures. Governing equations in Cartesian coordinate are simplified and solved analytically to develop expressions for velocity and temperature, entropy generation number and irreversibility distribution ratio. Velocity, temperature and entropy generation profiles are presented graphically.     

Conjugate natural convection heat transfer in a partitioned differentially-heated square cavity

In this study numerical results for conjugate natural convection flow and heat transfer in a differentially-heated square cavity divided by a partition with finite thickness and thermal conductivity are presented. A series of numerical simulation is carried out using the finite volume method over a wide range of the Rayleigh number (10⁵–10⁹), with three dimensionless partition thicknesses (0.05, 0.1 and 0.2) and three dimensionless partition positions (0.25, 0.5 and 0.75), both are non-dimensionalized by the cavity width. The results show that the average Nusselt number increases with the Rayleigh number but decreases with partition thickness. It is also found that the partition position has a negligible effect on the average Nusselt number for the whole range of Rayleigh number considered.     

Analytical and Numerical Study of Combined Effects of a Magnetic Field and an External Shear Stress on Soret Convection in a Horizontal Porous Enclosure

The fluid flow induced by combined actions of Soret effect and shear stress applied on the top horizontal free surface (the lower one being rigid) in a horizontal porous layer, under an external magnetic field, is studied analytically and numerically. The horizontal walls of the porous layer are subject to uniform heat fluxes. The porous layer is sparsely packed then the flow is governed by the Brinkman model assuming the Boussinesq approximation. The governing parameters are the thermal Rayleigh number, R_T, the Lewis number, Le, the separation parameter, ?, the effective Darcy number, Da, the Hartmann number Ha, the dimensionless shear stress, τ, and the aspect ratio of the enclosure, A_r. An analytical solution is derived on the basis of the parallel flow approximation, assuming enlarge aspect ratio layer, and validated numerically using a finite-difference method. The critical Rayleigh numbers for the onset of stationary, subcritical, and oscillatory convection are determined explicitly as functions of the governing parameters for infinite layers with a zero shear stress, τ = 0. The codimension-2 point is identified and different flow behaviors are observed and discussed. The effects of the governing parameters on the fluid flow intensity and heat and mass transfer characteristics are also discussed.     

Unsteady Conjugate Natural Convection in a Vertical Cylinder Partially Filled with a Porous Medium

Transient natural convection in a vertical cylinder containing both a fluid layer overlying a horizontal porous layer saturated with the same fluid and heat-conducting solid shell of finite thickness in conditions of convective heat exchange with an environment has been studied numerically. The Beavers-Joseph empirical boundary condition is considered at the fluid-porous interface with the Darcy model for the porous layer and the Boussinesq approximation for the pure fluid. The governing equations formulated in dimensionless variables, such as the stream function, the vorticity, and the temperature have been solved by a finite difference method. Particular efforts have been focused on the effects of five types of influential factors, such as the Darcy number 10^?5 ≤ Da ≤ 10^?3, the porous layer height ratio 0 ≤ d/L ≤ 1, the solid shell thickness ratio 0.1 ≤ l/L ≤ 0.3, the thermal conductivity ratio 1 ≤ k_1,3 ≤ 20, and the dimensionless time 0 ≤ τ ≤ 1000 on the fluid flow and heat transfer. Comprehensive analysis of an effect of these key parameters on the Nusselt number at the bottom wall, on the average temperature in the cavity, and on the maximum absolute value of the stream function has been conducted.     

Numerical Investigation of Unsteady Natural Convection in an Inclined Square Enclosure With Heat-Generating Porous Medium

The unsteady laminar natural convection in an inclined square enclosure with heat-generating porous medium whose heat varies by a cosine function is investigated by a thermal equilibrium model and the Brinkman–Darcy–Forchheimer model numerically, with the four cooled walls of closure as isothermal. The numerical code based on the finite-volume method has been validated by reference data before it was adopted. Influence of dimensionless frequency and inclination angle on heat transfer characteristics in a square enclosure, such as flow distribution, isotherm, averaged Nusselt number on each wall, and time-averaged Nusselt number, are discussed, with specified value for Rayleigh number = 10⁸, Darcy number = 10^?4, Prandtl number = 7, porosity = 0.4, and specific heat ratio = 1. It is found that when the internal heat source varies by cosine, the Nusselt numbers of the four walls oscillate with the same frequency as the internal heat source; however, phase difference occurs. Moreover, frequency has little impact on time-averaged Nusselt number of the four walls, which is different from the phenomenon discovered in natural convection with suitable periodic varying wall temperature boundary condition. Moreover, inclination angle plays an important role in the heat transfer characteristics of the walls studied.     

Natural convection in cavities with a thin fin on the hot wall

A numerical study has been carried out in differentially heated square cavities, which are formed by horizontal adiabatic walls and vertical isothermal walls. A thin fin is attached on the active wall. Heat transfer by natural convection is studied by numerically solving equations of mass, momentum and energy. Streamlines and isotherms are produced, heat and mass transfer is calculated. A parametric study is carried out using following parameters: Rayleigh number from 10⁴ to 10⁹, dimensionless thin fin length from 0.10 to 0.90, dimensionless thin fin position from 0 to 0.90, dimensionless conductivity ratio of thin fin from 0 (perfectly insulating) to 60. It is found that Nusselt number is an increasing function of Rayleigh number, and a decreasing function of fin length and relative conductivity ratio. There is always an optimum fin position, which is often at the center or near center of the cavity, which makes heat transfer by natural convection minimized. The heat transfer may be suppressed up to 38% by choosing appropriate thermal and geometrical fin parameters.     

Effects of Wall-Located Heat Barrier on Conjugate Conduction/Natural-Convection Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Enclosures

The effects of a heat barrier, located in the ceiling wall of an enclosure, on conjugate conduction/natural convection are investigated numerically. The vertical walls of the enclosure are differentially heated and the horizontal walls are adiabatic. Heatline technique is used to visualize heat transport. The variations of average Nusselt number, dimensionless heat transfer rate through the ceiling wall, and dimensionless overall heat transfer rate are studied. Calculations are performed for different Rayleigh numbers (10³ ≤ Ra ≤ 10⁶), thermal conductivity ratios (1 ≤ K ≤ 100), dimensionless locations of the heat barrier (0 < X _h  < 1),and two dimensionless ceiling wall thicknesses (D = 0.05 and D = 0.20). For high thermal conductivity ratio (K = 100), the heat barrier considerably reduces the dimensionless overall heat transfer rate. The effect of the heat barrier on dimensionless heat transfer rate through the enclosure increases as the Rayleigh number decreases. For low Rayleigh number (i.e., Ra = 10³), a location exists in the ceiling wall for which the dimensionless overall heat transfer rate is minimum.     

A Thermal Nonequilibrium Approach to Natural Convection in a Square Enclosure Due to the Partially Cooled Sidewalls of the Enclosure

This article presents a numerical investigation of steady non-Darcy natural convection heat transfer in a square cavity filled with a heat-generating porous medium with partial cooling using a local thermal nonequilibrium (LTNE) model. Five different partial cooling boundary conditions and the fully cooled boundary condition are investigated under LTNE and local thermal equilibrium (LTE). The cooling portions of the left and the right sidewalls of the cavity are maintained at temperature T ₀ while the enclosure's top and bottom walls, as well as the inactive parts of its sidewalls, are kept insulated. The simulation results show that the placement order of wall cooling has a significant effect on the flow pattern and heat transfer rate. Compared with the fully cooled wall, the partially cooled wall of the cavity yielded a higher local Nusselt number for both fluid and solid phases. Under the same boundary conditions, the LTNE and LTE models can demonstrate significant differences in flow patterns and temperature fields. The total heat transfer rate increases with both Darcy number and Rayleigh number. Enhancement of interphase heat transfer coefficient (H) reduces the impact of Darcy number on the heat transfer rate of a porous cavity. Also, the total heat transfer rate of the porous medium decreases steadily with thermal conductivity ratio γ and interphase heat transfer coefficient H.     

Entropy generation analysis in a uniformly heated microchannel heat sink

Present investigation analyzes the issue of entropy generation in a uniformly heated microchannel heat sink (MCHS). Analytical approach used to solve forced convection problem across MCHS, is a porous medium model based on extended Darcy equation for fluid flow and two-equation model for heat transfer. Simultaneously, closed form velocity solution in a rectangular channel is employed to capture z-directional viscous effect diffusion and its pronounced effect on entropy generation through fluid flow. Subsequently, governing equations are cast into dimensionless form and solved analytically. Second law analysis of problem is then conducted on the basis of obtained velocity and temperature fields and expressions for local and average entropy generation rate are derived in dimensionless form. Average entropy generation rate is then utilized as a criterion for assessing the system performance. Finally, the effect of influential parameters such as, channel aspect ratio (α_S), group parameter (Br/Ω), thermal conductivity ratio (C) and porosity (ε) on thermal and total entropy generation is investigated. In order to examine the accuracy of the analysis, the results of thermal evaluation are compared to one of the previous investigations conducted for thermal optimization of MCHS.     

Heat transfer in micropolar fluid along an inclined permeable plate with variable fluid properties

This paper studies the heat transfer process in a two-dimensional steady hydromagnetic natural convective flow of a micropolar fluid over an inclined permeable plate subjected to a constant heat flux condition. The analysis accounts for both temperature dependent viscosity and temperature dependent thermal conductivity. The local similarity equations are derived and solved numerically using the Nachtsheim–Swigert iteration procedure. Results for the dimensionless velocity and temperature profiles and the local rate of heat transfer are displayed graphically delineating the effect of various parameters characterizing the flow. The results show that in modeling the thermal boundary layer flow when both the viscosity and thermal conductivity are temperature dependent, the Prandtl number must be treated as a variable to obtain realistic results. As the thermal conductivity parameter increases, it promotes higher velocities and higher temperatures in the respective boundary layers. The wall shear stress increases with the increase of thermal conductivity parameter. This is true of electrically conducting as well as electrically non-conducting fluids. The presence of heat generation invigorates the flow and produces larger values of the local Nusselt number compared with the case of zero heat generation.     

Unsteady natural convection within a differentially heated enclosure of sinusoidal corrugated side walls

Numerically investigation of natural convection within a differentially heated modified square enclosure with sinusoidally corrugated side walls has been performed for different values of Rayleigh number. The fluid inside the enclosure considered is air and is quiescent, initially. The top and bottom surfaces are flat and considered as adiabatic. Results reveal three main stages: an initial stage, a transitory or oscillatory stage and a steady stage for the development of natural convection flow inside the corrugated cavity. The numerical scheme is based on the finite element method adapted to triangular non-uniform mesh element by a non-linear parametric solution algorithm. Investigation has been performed for the Rayleigh number, Ra ranging from 10⁵ to 10⁸ with variation of corrugation amplitude and frequency. Constant physical properties for the fluid medium have been assumed except for the density where Boussinesq’s approximation has been considered. Results have been presented in terms of the isotherms, streamlines, temperature plots, average Nusselt numbers, traveling waves and thermal boundary layer thickness plots, temperature and velocity profiles. The effects of sudden differential heating and its consequent transient behavior on fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics have been observed for the range of governing parameters. The present results show that the transient phenomena are greatly influenced by the variation of the Rayleigh number with corrugation amplitude and frequency.     

Effects of Heating Location and Size on Natural Convection in Partially Heated Open-Ended Enclosure by Using Lattice Boltzmann Method

Natural convection heat transfer in an square enclosure, consisting of a partially heated west wall with east end open to ambient, is investigated numerically by using an in-house computational fluid dynamics solver based on thermal lattice Boltzmann method. In particular, the influences of Rayleigh number (10³–10⁶), heating location (bottom, middle, and top) on west wall, and dimensionless heating length (0.25–0.75) on momentum and heat transfer characteristics of air are presented and discussed. The streamline patterns show bifurcation at the lowest Rayleigh number for bottom and middle heating, whereas at the highest Rayleigh number, all heating positions yield bifurcation and elongation of flow patterns with a secondary vortex near the lower side of open end. The middle and bottom heating locations show a linear increase in Nusselt number with heater size, whereas inverse dependence is seen for top heating. The maximum heat transfer is observed in the case of middle heating. As expected, average Nusselt number increased with increasing Rayleigh number. Finally, the functional dependence of the average Nusselt number on flow governing parameters (Rayleigh number and heating length) for different heating locations is presented as a simple predictive empirical relationship.     

Flow and heat transfer analysis of MHD third-grade fluid flow through a vertical microchannel subjected to entropy generation

This paper analyses the generation of entropy in an electrically conducting third-grade fluid through a vertical channel considering the variable thermal conductivity. Aspects of radiation, viscous dissipation, porous medium, Joule heating, convective boundary condition, and heat generation are studied. Nonlinear systems of ordinary differential equations are obtained via applying suitable dimensionless variables. After that, the system is solved with the aid of using the Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg method. The numerical solutions are used to characterize the irreversibility and irreversibility ratio. It is established that the entropy is enhanced with accelerating estimations of the third-grade material parameter, Brinkman number, magnetism, Biot number, porous parameter, and the impact is decelerated with elevating values of the radiation. The rate of heat transfer is higher for the Brinkman number, and a similar impact on drag force is noticed for magnetic and Grashof numbers. All the parameters on flow, temperature, fluid irreversibility and irreversibility ratio are discussed through graphical illustration.     

Effects of slip on sheet-driven flow and heat transfer of a third grade fluid past a stretching sheet

The entrained flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting non-Newtonian fluid due to a stretching surface subject to partial slip is considered. The partial slip is controlled by a dimensionless slip factor, which varies between zero (total adhesion) and infinity (full slip). The constitutive equation of the non-Newtonian fluid is modeled by that for a third grade fluid. The heat transfer analysis has been carried out for two heating processes, namely, (i) with prescribed surface temperature (PST case) and (ii) prescribed surface heat flux (PHF case). Suitable similarity transformations are used to reduce the resulting highly nonlinear partial differential equations into ordinary differential equations. The issue of paucity of boundary conditions is addressed and an effective second order numerical scheme has been adopted to solve the obtained differential equations. The important finding in this communication is the combined effects of the partial slip, magnetic field and the third grade fluid parameter on the velocity, skin-friction coefficient and the temperature field. It is interesting to find that slip decreases the momentum boundary layer thickness and increases the thermal boundary layer thickness, whereas the third grade fluid parameter has an opposite effect on the thermal and velocity boundary layers.     

Conjugate Wall Conduction-Fluid Natural Convection in a Three-Dimensional Inclined Enclosure

Laminar conjugate conduction-natural convection heat transfer in a 3-D inclined cubic enclosure comprised of finite thickness conductive walls and central cavity is numerically investigated. The dimensionless governing equations describing the convective flow and wall heat conduction are solved by the high accuracy multidomain pseudospectral method. Computations are performed for different Rayleigh numbers (10³ ≤ Ra* ≤ 10⁶), thermal conductivity ratios (1 ≤ k ≤ 100), dimensionless wall thickness (0 ≤ s ≤ 0.25), and enclosure inclinations (?30° ≤ α ₁ ≤ 30°, 0° ≤ α ₂ ≤ 45°). The effects of the above controlling parameters on the heat transfer performances of the enclosure system are investigated in detail, with emphases on the variations of wall conduction and fluid convection heat transfer, and the interactive heat transfer conditions between solid walls and fluid in the central cavity. Numerical results reveal that the existence of enclosure walls reduces the temperature gradient across the cavity and alters the temperature distribution within the solid walls; thus, the fluid convection is complexly determined by the combined effects of k and s, and is greatly affected by enclosure inclinations at high Rayleigh numbers. Moreover, the temperature distributions and solid-fluid interactive heat transfer conditions are provided for further interpretation and demonstration of the effects of the solid walls.