Two dimensional combined convection in vertical parallel plate ducts, including situations of flow reversal

Numerical solutions are presented for the problem of steady laminar combined convection flows in vertical parallel plate ducts. Axial diffusion is neglected in the analysis and the resulting governing equations, which are of a parabolic nature, are expressed in an implicit finite difference scheme using a vorticity-stream function formulation and are solved using a marching technique. A constant wall temperature boundary condition is used and investigations are restricted to the case Pr = 0.72. A large range of values of the ratio Gr/Re is considered, −300 ≤ Gr/Re ≤ 70, and comparisons are made with the case of pure forced convection. For large values of the ratio |Gr/Re| reverse flow occurs in the duct. A modification to the standard marching technique is introduced and complete solutions are achieved for these situations for the first time. Results are presented in terms of velocity profiles, Nusselt numbers, friction factors and temperature distributions.