Three-dimensional analysis of mixed convection in a differentially heated lid-driven cubic enclosure

Abstract

Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Turkey, 19-21 July, 2010.

To study the intricate three- dimensional flow structures and the companion heat transfer rates in a differentially heated lid- driven cubic cavity, a numerical methodology based on the finite volume method and a full multigrid acceleration is utilized in this note. The four remaining walls forming the cubic cavity are adiabatic. The working fluid is air so the Prandtl number equates to 0.71. Numerical solutions are generated for representative combinations of the controlling Reynolds number inside 100 ≤ Re ≤ 1000 and the Richardson number inside 0.001 ≤ Ri ≤ 10. Typical sets of streamlines and isotherms are presented to analyze the tortuous circulatory flow patterns set up by the competition between the forced flow created by the moving wall and the buoyancy force of the fluid. Correlations between the average Nusselt number through the cold wall and the Richardson number were established for the mentioned Reynolds numbers.