An investigation of natural convection in enclosures with two- and three-dimensional partitions

Abstract The heat transfer and fluid flow in a rectangular enclosure fitted with a vertical adiabatic partition is investigated experimentally. The partition is oriented parallel to the two vertical isothermal walls, one of which is heated and the other cooled while all other surfaces of the enclosure are insulated. The experiments are carried out with water for Rayleigh numbers over the range 10 10 − 10 11 and an aspect ratio (height : width ratio) of one-half. Fluid temperatures are obtained with thermocouple probes and the cross-cavity heat transfer is obtained as a function of the Rayleigh number and partition geometry. The flow is visualized with dye injection. Two cases have been studied. In the first case, the partition is of constant height over the entire breadth of the enclosure resulting in a two-dimensional geometry. The effect of the transverse location and the upward or downward extension (orientation) of the division is examined. In the second case the partition completely divides the enclosure except for a rectangular opening which allows convection to occur across the enclosure. The dependence of the flow and the cross-cavity heat transfer on the Rayleigh number and on the size of the opening in the partition is studied.