Studies on buoyant convection in cavities with partially cooling and heating a numerical approach

Abstract

Studies on buoyant convection in a square cavity with partial heating and cooling are carried out. A two-dimensional cavity is considered and numerical investigations are performed to understand the effects of partially active thermal zones. To investigate this location effect, the study is performed by placing the thermally active zones in five different relative positions along the vertical sidewalls. The governing equations framed are solved using finite volume method and the numerical coding is done through the fortran 95 programming. The effect of magnetic field and density inversion on the buoyancy driven convection of cold water near its maximum density under the influence of uniform magnetic field inside a square cavity is studied, both in presence and absence of internal heat generation. In the study, the partially heated or cooled zones are placed along the vertical sidewalls of the cavity while the other inactive portions of the walls are considered to be adiabatic and thermally insulated. In the absence of internal heat generation, the numerically simulated results attained are represented graphically in the form of flow field and temperature distribution for various positions of thermal zones, values of density inversion parameter, Hartmann number. In the presence of heat generation, a detailed study on transient and steady state analysis is performed for heat generation values varying between -10 and 10. The best possible location of thermal zone and internal heat generation value for which maximum heat transfer rate takes place is identified and suggested. The study on the heat transfer enhancement due to thermal radiation effects and the buoyancy driven convection flow in a square cavity with partial heating and cooling is carried out and in the numerical analysis, the behavior of fluid flow and the temperature distribution is obtained and presented graphically for different positions of partially thermally active zones and newline