Numerical Study of Heat Transfer in a Differentially Heated Cavity

Abstract

Laminar natural convection is studied in a square cavity filled with air whose two vertical sides are subject to a temperature difference, while the other two horizontal sides are adiabatic. The hot and cold wall temperatures are kept constant. We have presented a dynamic and thermal study of pure natural convection for different values of the Rayleigh number. The numerical simulation was carried out for Rayleigh numbers ranging from 10 2 , 10 3 , …, 10 5 and the Prandtl number is Pr = 0.71. We used the COMSOL Multiphysic 5.1 software, which allows us to simultaneously solve the coupled physical phenomena in a square enclosure containing air under the Boussinesq approximation. For the coupling of natural convection with radiation from radiative surfaces, both horizontal faces are subjected to radiative flux, and the emissivity of the surfaces varies from ε = 0.1 to 0.8. We have seen that a circulation process is involved. The fluid that is subjected to a high temperature near the hot wall rises to the ceiling and the fluid near the cold wall sinks. This movement continues until the fluid reaches thermal equilibrium. In a natural convection-surface radiation coupling, simulation results indicate that radiative exchange decreases as a function of the Rayleigh number. Surface radiation reduces the flow in the cavity.