Natural convection and thermal drift

2017 ◽  
Vol 826 ◽  
pp. 553-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arman Abtahi ◽  
J. M. Floryan

An analysis of natural convection in a horizontal, geometrically non-uniform slot exposed to spatially non-uniform heating has been carried out. The upper plate is smooth and isothermal, and the lower plate has sinusoidal corrugations with a sinusoidal temperature distribution. The distributions of the non-uniformities are characterized in terms of the wavenumber$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$and their relative position is expressed in terms of the phase difference$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FA}_{TL}$. The analysis is limited to heating conditions which do not give rise to secondary motions in the absence of the non-uniformities. The heating creates horizontal temperature gradients which lead to the formation of vertical and horizontal pressure gradients which drive the motion regardless of the intensity of the heating. When the hot spots (points of maximum temperature) overlap either with the corrugation tips or with the corrugation bottoms, convection assumes the form of pairs of counter-rotating rolls whose size is dictated by the heating/corrugation wavelengths. The formation of a net horizontal flow, referred to as thermal drift, is observed for all other relative positions of the hot spots and corrugation tips. Both periodic heating as well as periodic corrugations are required for the formation of this drift, which can be directed in the positive as well as in the negative horizontal directions depending on the phase difference between the heating and corrugation patterns. The most intense convection and the largest drift occur for wavelengths comparable to the slot height, and their intensities increase proportionally to the heating intensity as well as proportionally to the corrugation amplitude, with the drift being a very strong function of the phase difference. Convection creates forces at the plates which would cause horizontal displacement of the corrugated plate and deform the corrugations if such effects were allowed. Tangential forces generated by the uniform heating always contribute to the corrugation buildup while similar forces generated by the periodic heating contribute to the buildup only when the hot spots overlap with the upper part of the corrugation. The processes described above are qualitatively similar for all Prandtl numbers$Pr$, with the intensity of convection and the magnitude of the drift increasing with a reduction in$Pr$.

2017 ◽  
Vol 815 ◽  
pp. 537-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arman Abtahi ◽  
J. M. Floryan

Analysis of natural convection in a horizontal slot formed by two corrugated isothermal plates has been carried out. The analysis is limited to subcritical Rayleigh numbers$Ra$where no secondary motion takes place in the absence of corrugations. The corrugations have a sinusoidal form characterized by the wavenumber, the upper and lower amplitudes and the phase difference. The most intense convection occurs for corrugation wavelengths comparable to the slot height; it increases proportionally to$Ra$and proportionally to the corrugation height. Placement of corrugations on both plates may either significantly increase or decrease the convection depending on the phase difference between the upper and lower corrugations, with the strongest convection found for corrugations being in phase, i.e. a ‘wavy’ slot, and the weakest for corrugations being out of phase, i.e. a ‘converging–diverging’ slot. It is shown that the shear forces would always contribute to the corrugation build-up if erosion was allowed, while the role of pressure forces depends on the location of the corrugations as well as on the corrugation height and wavenumber, and the Rayleigh number. Placing corrugations on both plates results in the formation of a moment which attempts to change the relative position of the plates. There are two limiting positions, i.e. the ‘wavy’ slot and the ‘converging–diverging’ slot, with the latter being unstable. The system would end up in the ‘wavy’ slot configuration if relative movement of the two plates was allowed. The presence of corrugations affects the conductive heat flow and creates a convective heat flow. The conductive heat flow increases with the corrugation height as well as with the corrugation wavenumber; it is largest for short-wavelength corrugations. The convective heat flow is relevant only for wavenumbers of$O(1)$, it increases proportionally to$Ra^{3}$and proportionally to the second power of the corrugation height. Convection is qualitatively similar for all Prandtl numbers$Pr$, with its intensity increasing for smaller$Pr$and with the heat transfer augmentation increasing for larger$Pr$.


Fluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Seyed Amin Nabavizadeh ◽  
Himel Barua ◽  
Mohsen Eshraghi ◽  
Sergio D. Felicelli

A multi-distribution lattice Boltzmann Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (BGK) model with a multiple-grid lattice Boltzmann (MGLB) model is proposed to efficiently simulate natural convection over a wide range of Prandtl numbers. In this method, different grid sizes and time steps for heat transfer and fluid flow equations are chosen. The model is validated against natural convection in a square cavity, since extensive benchmark solutions are available for that problem. The proposed method can resolve the computational difficulty in simulating problems with very different time scales, in particular, when using extremely low or high Prandtl numbers. The technique can also enhance computational speed and stability while keeping the simplicity of the BGK method. Compared with the conventional lattice Boltzmann method, the simulation time can be reduced up to one-tenth of the time while maintaining the accuracy in an acceptable range. The proposed model can be extended to other lattice Boltzmann collision models and three-dimensional cases, making it a great candidate for large-scale simulations.


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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 841 ◽  
pp. 825-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chong Shen Ng ◽  
Andrew Ooi ◽  
Detlef Lohse ◽  
Daniel Chung

Previous numerical studies on homogeneous Rayleigh–Bénard convection, which is Rayleigh–Bénard convection (RBC) without walls, and therefore without boundary layers, have revealed a scaling regime that is consistent with theoretical predictions of bulk-dominated thermal convection. In this so-called asymptotic regime, previous studies have predicted that the Nusselt number ($\mathit{Nu}$) and the Reynolds number ($\mathit{Re}$) vary with the Rayleigh number ($\mathit{Ra}$) according to $\mathit{Nu}\sim \mathit{Ra}^{1/2}$ and $\mathit{Re}\sim \mathit{Ra}^{1/2}$ at small Prandtl numbers ($\mathit{Pr}$). In this study, we consider a flow that is similar to RBC but with the direction of temperature gradient perpendicular to gravity instead of parallel to it; we refer to this configuration as vertical natural convection (VC). Since the direction of the temperature gradient is different in VC, there is no exact relation for the average kinetic dissipation rate, which makes it necessary to explore alternative definitions for $\mathit{Nu}$, $\mathit{Re}$ and $\mathit{Ra}$ and to find physical arguments for closure, rather than making use of the exact relation between $\mathit{Nu}$ and the dissipation rates as in RBC. Once we remove the walls from VC to obtain the homogeneous set-up, we find that the aforementioned $1/2$-power-law scaling is present, similar to the case of homogeneous RBC. When focusing on the bulk, we find that the Nusselt and Reynolds numbers in the bulk of VC too exhibit the $1/2$-power-law scaling. These results suggest that the $1/2$-power-law scaling may even be found at lower Rayleigh numbers if the appropriate quantities in the turbulent bulk flow are employed for the definitions of $\mathit{Ra}$, $\mathit{Re}$ and $\mathit{Nu}$. From a stability perspective, at low- to moderate-$\mathit{Ra}$, we find that the time evolution of the Nusselt number for homogenous vertical natural convection is unsteady, which is consistent with the nature of the elevator modes reported in previous studies on homogeneous RBC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 2792-2808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behnam Rafiei ◽  
Hamed Masoumi ◽  
Mohammad Saeid Aghighi ◽  
Amine Ammar

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of complex boundary conditions on natural convection of a yield stress fluid in a square enclosure heated from below (uniformly and non-uniformly) and symmetrically cooled from the sides. Design/methodology/approach The governing equations are solved numerically subject to continuous and discontinuous Dirichlet boundary conditions by Galerkin’s weighted residuals scheme of finite element method and using a non-uniform unstructured triangular grid. Findings Results show that the overall heat transfer from the heated wall decreases in the case of non-uniform heating for both Newtonian and yield stress fluids. It is found that the effect of yield stress on heat transfer is almost similar in both uniform and non-uniform heating cases. The yield stress has a stabilizing effect, reducing the convection intensity in both cases. Above a certain value of yield number Y, heat transfer is only due to conduction. It is found that a transition of different modes of stability may occur as Rayleigh number changes; this fact gives rise to a discontinuity in the variation of critical yield number. Originality/value Besides the new numerical method based on the finite element and using a non-uniform unstructured grid for analyzing natural convection of viscoplastic materials with complex boundary conditions, the originality of the present work concerns the treatment of the yield stress fluids under the influence of complex boundary conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 4130-4141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulmajeed Mohamad ◽  
Mikhail A. Sheremet ◽  
Jan Taler ◽  
Paweł Ocłoń

Purpose Natural convection in differentially heated enclosures has been extensively investigated due to its importance in many industrial applications and has been used as a benchmark solution for testing numerical schemes. However, most of the published works considered uniform heating and cooling of the vertical boundaries. This paper aims to examine non-uniform heating and cooling of the mentioned boundaries. The mentioned case is very common in many electronic cooling devices, thermal storage systems, energy managements in buildings, material processing, etc. Design/methodology/approach Four cases are considered, the left-hand wall’s temperature linearly decreases along the wall, while the right-hand wall’s temperature is kept at a constant, cold temperature. In the second case, the left-hand wall’s temperature linearly increases along the wall, while the right-hand wall’s temperature is kept a constant, cold temperature. The third case, the left-hand wall’s temperature linearly decreases along the wall, while the right-hand wall’s temperature linearly increases along the wall. In the fourth case, the left-hand and the right-hand walls’ temperatures decrease along the wall, symmetry condition. Hence, four scenarios of natural convection in enclosures were covered. Findings It has been found that the average Nusselt number of the mentioned cases is less than the average Nusselt number of the uniformly heated and cooled enclosure, which reflects the physics of the problem. The work quantifies the deficiency in the rate of the heat transfer. Interestingly one of the mentioned cases showed two counter-rotating horizontal circulations. Such a flow structure can be considered for passively, highly controlled mechanism for species mixing processes application. Originality/value Previous works assumed that the vertical boundary is subjected to a constant temperature or to a sinusoidal varying temperature. The subject of the work is to examine the effect of non-uniformly heating and/or cooling vertical boundaries on the rate of heat transfer and flow structure for natural convection in a square enclosure. The temperature either linearly increases or decreases along the vertical coordinate at the boundary. Four scenarios are explored.


Volume 1 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandar V. Joshi ◽  
U. N. Gaitonde ◽  
Sushanta K. Mitra

A semi-analytical method for natural convection in a two dimensional rectangular enclosure, with uniform volumetric heat generation, having insulated horizontal boundaries, and isothermal vertical boundaries, has been studied here. In this method, the governing equations for natural convection, have been solved under the assumption that for a cavity with small aspect ratio, the flow in the central region of the cavity is only in the vertical direction. It is found that for the cavities with small aspect ratio, the temperature in central region of the cavity is nearly constant along the horizontal direction. However, there is a uniform temperature gradient in the vertical direction, which can be related to the maximum temperature in conduction. The velocity profiles and temperature profiles obtained in the present work, are compared with the numerical simulations by Fluent and a fair agreement is found between these results.


1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ramanathan ◽  
R. Kumar

This paper presents the numerical results of natural convective flows between two vertical, parallel plates within a large enclosure. A parametric study has been conducted for various Prandtl numbers and channel aspect ratios. The results are in good agreement with the reported results in the literature for air for large aspect ratios. However, for small aspect ratios, the present numerical results do not agree with the correlations given in the literature. The discrepancy is due to the fact that the published results were obtained for channels where the diffusion of thermal energy in the vertical direction is negligible. The results obtained in this paper indicate that vertical conduction should be considered for channel aspect ratios less than 10 for Pr = 0.7. Correlations are presented to predict the maximum temperature and the average Nusselt number on the plate as explicit functions of the channel Rayleigh number and the channel aspect ratio for air. The plate temperature is a weak function of Prandtl number for Prandtl numbers greater than 0.7, if the channel Rayleigh number is chosen as the correlating parameter. For Prandtl numbers less than 0.1, the plate temperature is a function of the channel Rayleigh number and the Prandtl number. A correlation for maximum temperature on the plate is presented to include the Prandtl number effect for large aspect ratio channels.


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