Natural Convection Patterns in Right-Angled Triangular Cavities with Heated Vertical Sides and Cooled Hypotenuses

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (10) ◽  
pp. 1181-1186 ◽  
Author(s):  
El Hassan Ridouane ◽  
Antonio Campo ◽  
Jane Y. Chang

The present investigation deals with the numerical computation of laminar natural convection in a gamma of right-angled triangular cavities filled with air. The vertical walls are heated and the inclined walls are cooled while the upper connecting walls are insulated from the ambient air. The defining apex angle α is located at the lower vertex formed between the vertical and inclined walls. This unique kind of cavity may find application in the miniaturization of electronic packaging severely constrained by space and/or weight. The finite volume method is used to perform the computational analysis encompassing a collection of apex angles α compressed in the interval that extends from 5° to 63°. The height-based Rayleigh number, being unaffected by the apex angle α, ranges from a low 103 to a high 106. Numerical results are reported for the velocity field, the temperature field and the mean convective coefficient along the heated vertical wall. Overall, the matching between the numerically predicted temperatures and the experimental measurements of air at different elevations inside a slim cavity is of ordinary quality. For purposes of engineering design, a Nu¯H correlation equation was constructed and also a figure-of-merit ratio between the Nu¯H and the cross sectional area A of the cavity was proposed.

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjiang Wu ◽  
Chan Y. Ching

The effect of the top wall temperature on the laminar natural convection in air-filled rectangular cavities driven by a temperature difference across the vertical walls was investigated for three different aspect ratios of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0. The temperature distributions along the heated vertical wall were measured, and the flow patterns in the cavities were visualized. The experiments were performed for a global Grashof number of approximately 1.8×108 and nondimensional top wall temperatures from 0.52 (insulated) to 1.42. As the top wall was heated, the flow separated from the top wall with an undulating flow region in the corner of the cavity, which resulted in a nonuniformity in the temperature profiles in this region. The location and extent of the undulation in the flow are primarily determined by the top wall temperature and nearly independent of the aspect ratio of the cavity. The local Nusselt number was correlated with the local Rayleigh number for all three cavities in the form of Nu=C⋅Ran, but the values of the constants C and n changed with the aspect ratio.


Author(s):  
Milorad B. Dzodzo

Laminar natural convection in cubic and rhomb–shaped enclosures (rhomb angles 59°, 44° and 28.2°) with two opposite vertical walls kept at different temperatures was investigated experimentally and numerically. The enclosures were filled with glycerol and the Rayleigh (Ra) and Prandtl (Pr) numbers ranged from 2,000<Ra<369,000 and 2,680<Pr<7,000. The visualization of the velocity and temperature fields was obtained by using Plexiglass and liquid crystal particles as tracers. The finite volume method based on the finite difference approach was applied for numerical analysis. The velocity and temperature fields and average Nusselt numbers were found as a function of the Reyleigh and Prandtl numbers. Comparison of the average Nusselt numbers for cubic and rhomb-shaped enclosures indicates decrease of heat transfer for the cases when the lower and upper vertical walls of the rhomb-shaped enclosures are at lower and higher temperatures, respectively. This is due to the tendency of fluid stratification in the lower and upper corners.


Author(s):  
Wenjiang Wu ◽  
Chan Y. Ching

The laminar natural convection in an air-filled square cavity with a partition on the top wall was experimentally investigated. Temperature measurements and flow visualizations were performed for cases with heated and cooled vertical walls (corresponding to a global Grashof number GrH of approximately 1.3 × 108) and non-dimensional top wall temperatures θT of 0.56 (insulated) to 2.3. Experiments were performed with an aluminum partition with non-dimensional height HP/H of 0.0625 and 0.125 attached to the top wall at x/H = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6. The blockage effect and/or the thermal effect of the partition resulted in changes to the temperature and flow fields, but were mainly limited to the vicinity of the partition. The partition on the heated top wall resulted in a recirculating flow between the partition and the heated vertical wall. For a given partition height, the structure of this recirculating flow was dependent on the partition location and θT. A thermal boundary layer developed along the rear surface of the partition due to the thermal effect of the partition. The ambient temperature outside the boundary layer and Nu near the corner region were affected by the partition height due to the changes in the recirculating flow and due to the thermal effect on the rear surface of the partition.


Author(s):  
Wenjiang Wu ◽  
Chan Y. Ching

The effect of the top wall temperature on the laminar natural convection in air-filled rectangular cavities driven by a temperature difference across the vertical walls was investigated for three different aspect ratios of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0. The temperature distributions along the heated vertical wall were measured and the flow patterns in the cavities were visualized. The experiments were performed for a global Grashof number of approximately 1.8×108 and non-dimensional top wall temperatures from 0.52 (insulated) to 1.42. As the top wall was heated, the flow separated from the top wall with an undulated flow region in the corner of the cavity, which resulted in a non-uniformity in the temperature profiles in this region. The location and extent of the undulation in the flow is primarily determined by the top wall temperature, and nearly independent of the aspect ratio of the cavity. The local Nusselt number was correlated to the local Rayleigh number for all three cavities in the form of Nu = C · Ran, but the values of the constants C and n changed with the aspect ratio.


2016 ◽  
Vol 831 ◽  
pp. 83-91
Author(s):  
Lahoucine Belarche ◽  
Btissam Abourida

The three-dimensional numerical study of natural convection in a cubical enclosure, discretely heated, was carried out in this study. Two heating square sections, similar to the integrated electronic components, are placed on the vertical wall of the enclosure. The imposed heating fluxes vary sinusoidally with time, in phase and in opposition of phase. The temperature of the opposite vertical wall is maintained at a cold uniform temperature and the other walls are adiabatic. The governing equations are solved using Control volume method by SIMPLEC algorithm. The sections dimension ε = D / H and the Rayleigh number Ra were fixed respectively at 0,35 and 106. The average heat transfer and the maximum temperature on the active portions will be examined for a given set of the governing parameters, namely the amplitude of the variable temperatures a and their period τp. The obtained results show significant changes in terms of heat transfer, by proper choice of the heating mode and the governing parameters.


Author(s):  
Wenjiang Wu ◽  
Chan Y. Ching

The effect of a partition on the laminar natural convection flow in an air-filled square cavity driven by a temperature difference across the vertical walls was investigated experimentally. Two partitions with non-dimensional heights of 0.0625 and 0.125 was attached either to the upper half of the heated vertical wall or the top wall at different locations. The experiments were performed for a global Grashof number of approximately 1.24×108 and non-dimensional top wall temperatures of approximately 0.48 to 2.28. At the higher top wall temperatures, a secondary flow circulation region formed between the partition attached to the top wall and the heated vertical wall of the cavity. This secondary flow circulation region was sensitive to the location and height of the partition, in addition to the top wall temperature of the cavity. The secondary flow circulation region moved the location where the upward boundary layer flow along the heated vertical wall turned over to be further away from the top wall, than in the cavity without the partition. A thermal boundary layer was observed to move along the rear surface of the partition attached to the top wall. In the region close to the top wall, the partitions caused the non-dimensional temperature outside of the boundary layer and the local Nusselt number along the heated vertical wall to be different from that in the cavity without the partition. There were no significant effects of the partition on the flow and heat transfer characteristics in the lower half of the cavity.


Author(s):  
Vinicius Daroz ◽  
Silvio L. M. Junqueira ◽  
Admilson T. Franco ◽  
José L. Lage

The critical Rayleigh number at the onset of natural convection within a square cavity filled with a centralized porous block was investigated. The porous medium is modeled by using the heterogeneous model and the governing equations are solved for each phase separately. The thermal gradient is applied from the bottom to the top horizontal walls while the vertical walls are kept adiabatic. The amount of solid within the cavity was kept constant by fixing both external and internal porosity in 36% and 40%, respectively. The equations are solved using the Finite Volume Method and the interpolation scheme for the convective terms is the Hybrid Scheme. For the pressure-velocity coupling, the SIMPLEC method is used. The effects on the conductive-convective regime transition, reads critical Rayleigh Number, characterized by the average Nusselt number and the heatlines contour plot, was investigated by varying the Rayleigh number and the porous block permeability. The results show that the so called critical Rayleigh number is affected by the block permeability. As the permeability decreases, the flow tends to recirculate around the block being squeezed against the cavity walls and therefore, more susceptible to viscous effects. A correlation to the critical Rayleigh number is presented as a function of the agglomerate permeability showing that the higher the permeability the lower the amount of energy required to trigger the convection.


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