Laminar Natural Convection Heat Transfer in a Differentially Heated Square Cavity Due to a Thin Fin on the Hot Wall

A finite-volume-based computational study of steady laminar natural convection (using Boussinesq approximation) within a differentially heated square cavity due to the presence of a single thin fin is presented. Attachment of highly conductive thin fins with lengths equal to 20, 35 and 50 percent of the side, positioned at 7 locations on the hot left wall were examined for Ra=10 4 , 10 5 , 10 6 , and 10 7 and Pr=0.707 (total of 84 cases). Placing a fin on the hot left wall generally alters the clockwise rotating vortex that is established due to buoyancy-induced convection. Two competing mechanisms that are responsible for flow and thermal modifications are identified. One is due to the blockage effect of the fin, whereas the other is due to extra heating of the fluid that is accommodated by the fin. The degree of flow modification due to blockage is enhanced by increasing the length of the fin. Under certain conditions, smaller vortices are formed between the fin and the top insulated wall

[1]  Ramón L. Frederick,et al.  Heat transfer in a square cavity with a conducting partition on its hot wall , 1989 .

[2]  S. Shakerin,et al.  Natural Convection in an Enclosure with Discrete Roughness Elements on a Vertical Heated Wall , 1988 .

[3]  E. Bilgen,et al.  Natural convection in enclosures with partial partitions , 2002 .

[4]  Toshiyuki Hayase,et al.  A consistently formulated QUICK scheme for fast and stable convergence using finite-volume iterative calculation procedures , 1992 .

[5]  V.M.K. Sastri,et al.  Natural convection in a differentially heated square cavity with a horizontal partition plate on the hot wall , 1993 .

[6]  G. D. Davis.  Natural convection of air in a square cavity: A bench mark numerical solution , 1983 .

[7]  S. Ostrach.  Natural convection in enclosures , 1988 .

[8]  Ricardo Scozia,et al.  NATURAL CONVECTION IN SLENDER CAVITIES WITH MULTIPLE FINS ATTACHED TO AN ACTIVE WALL , 1991 .

[9]  George N. Facas,et al.  Natural convection in a cavity with fins attached to both vertical walls , 1993 .

[10]  G. de Vahl Davis,et al.  Natural convection in a square cavity: A comparison exercise , 1983 .

[11]  E. K. Lakhal,et al.  Natural convection in inclined rectangular enclosures with perfectly conducting fins attached on the heated wall , 1997 .

[12]  Ramón L. Frederick,et al.  Natural convection in an inclined square enclosure with a partition attached to its cold wall , 1989 .

[13]  Xundan Shi,et al.  Laminar Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Lid-Driven Cavity Due to a Thin Fin , 2002 .