Role of heatlines on thermal management during Rayleigh-Bénard heating within enclosures with concave/convex horizontal walls

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 2070-2104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pratibha Biswal ◽  
Tanmay Basak

Purpose This study aims to carry out the analysis of Rayleigh-Bénard convection within enclosures with curved isothermal walls, with the special implication on the heat flow visualization via the heatline approach. Design/methodology/approach The Galerkin finite element method has been used to obtain the numerical solutions in terms of the streamlines (ψ ), heatlines (Π), isotherms (θ), local and average Nusselt number ( Nut¯) for various Rayleigh numbers (103 ≤ Ra ≥ 105), Prandtl numbers (Pr = 0.015 and 7.2) and wall curvatures (concavity/convexity). Findings The presence of the larger fluid velocity within the curved cavities resulted in the larger heat transfer rates and thermal mixing compared to the square cavity. Case 3 (high concavity) exhibits the largest Nut¯ at the low Ra for all Pr. At the high Ra, Nut¯ is the largest for Case 3 (high concavity) at Pr = 0.015, whereas at Pr = 7.2, Nut¯ is the largest for Case 1 (high concavity and convexity). Practical implications The results may be useful for the material processing applications. Originality/value The study of Rayleigh-Bénard convection in cavities with the curved isothermal walls is not carried out till date. The heatline approach is used for the heat flow visualization during Rayleigh-Benard convection within the curved walled enclosures for the first time. Also, the existence of the enhanced fluid and heat circulation cells within the curved walled cavities during Rayleigh-Benard heating is illustrated for the first time.

2011 ◽  
Vol 673 ◽  
pp. 318-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. FREUND ◽  
W. PESCH ◽  
W. ZIMMERMANN

Motivated by recent experiments, we study a rich variation of the familiar Rayleigh–Bénard convection (RBC), where the temperature at the lower boundary varies sinusoidally about a mean value. As usual the Rayleigh number R measures the average temperature gradient, while the additional spatial modulation is characterized by a (small) amplitude δm and a wavevector qm. Our analysis relies on precise numerical solutions of suitably adapted Oberbeck–Boussinesq equations (OBE). In the absence of forcing (δm = 0), convection rolls with wavenumber qc bifurcate only for R above the critical Rayleigh number Rc. In contrast, for δm≠0, convection is unavoidable for any finite R; in the most simple case in the form of ‘forced rolls’ with wavevector qm. According to our first comprehensive stability diagram of these forced rolls in the qm – R plane, they develop instabilities against resonant oblique modes at R ≲ Rc in a wide range of qm/qc. Only for qm in the vicinity of qc, the forced rolls remain stable up to fairly large R > Rc. Direct numerical simulations of the OBE support and extend the findings of the stability analysis. Moreover, we are in line with the experimental results and also with some earlier theoretical results on this problem, based on asymptotic expansions in the limit δm → 0 and R → Rc. It is satisfying that in many cases the numerical results can be directly interpreted in terms of suitably constructed amplitude and generalized Swift–Hohenberg equations.


Author(s):  
Sahin Yigit ◽  
Nilanjan Chakraborty

Purpose This paper aims to conduct numerical simulations to investigate steady-state laminar Rayleigh–Bénard convection of yield stress fluids obeying Bingham model in rectangular cross-sectional cylindrical annular enclosures. In this investigation, axisymmetric simulations have been carried out for nominal Rayleigh number range Ra = 103 to 105, aspect ratio range AR = 0.25 to 4 (i.e. AR = H/L where H is the enclosure height and L is the difference between outer and inner radii) and normalised inner radius range ri/L = 0 to 16 (where ri is internal cylinder radius) for a nominal representative Prandtl number Pr = 500. Both constant wall temperature (CWT) and constant wall heat flux (CWHF) boundary conditions have been considered for differentially heated horizontal walls to analyse the effects of wall boundary condition. Design/methodology/approach The bi-viscosity Bingham model is used to mimic Bingham fluids for Rayleigh–Bénard convection of Bingham fluids in vertical cylindrical annuli. The conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy have been solved in a coupled manner using the finite volume method where a second-order central differencing scheme is used for the diffusive terms and a second-order up-wind scheme is used for the convective terms. The well-known semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations algorithm is used for the coupling of the pressure and velocity. Findings It is found that the convective transport strengthens (weakens) with an increase in Ra (AR) for both Newtonian (i.e. Bn = 0) and Bingham fluids, regardless of the boundary conditions. Moreover, the strength of convection is stronger in the CWT configuration than that is for CWHF boundary condition due to higher temperature difference between horizontal walls for both Newtonian (i.e. Bn = 0) and Bingham fluids. The mean Nusselt number Nūcy does not show a monotonic increase with increasing Ra for AR = 1 and ri/L = 4 because of the change in flow pattern (i.e. number of convection rolls/cells) in the CWT boundary condition, whereas a monotonic increase of Nūcy with increasing Ra is obtained for the CWHF configuration. In addition, Nūcy increases with increasing ri/L and asymptotically approaches the corresponding value obtained for rectangular enclosures (ri/L → ∞) for both CWT and CWHF boundary conditions for large values of ri/L. It is also found that both the flow pattern and the mean Nusselt number Nūcy are dependent on the initial conditions for Bingham fluid cases, as hysteresis is evident for AR = 1 for both CWT and CWHF boundary conditions. Originality value Finally, the numerical findings have been used to propose a correlation for Nūcy in the range of 0.25 ≤ ri/L ≤ 16, 0.25 ≤ AR ≤ 2 and 5 × 104 ≤ Ra ≤ 105 for the CWHF configuration.


Author(s):  
Sahin Yigit ◽  
Nilanjan Chakraborty

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the aspect ratio (AR; ratio of enclosure height:length) dependence of steady-state Rayleigh–Bénard convection of Bingham fluids within rectangular enclosures for both constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux boundary conditions. A nominal Rayleigh number range 103 ≤ Ra ≤ 105 (Ra defined based on the height) for a single representative value of nominal Prandtl number (i.e. Pr = 500) has been considered for 1/4 ≤ AR ≤ 4. Design/methodology/approach The bi-viscosity Bingham model is used to mimic Bingham fluids for Rayleigh–Bénard convection of Bingham fluids in rectangular enclosures. The conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy have been solved in a coupled manner using the finite volume method where a second-order central differencing scheme is used for the diffusive terms and a second-order up-wind scheme is used for the convective terms. The well-known semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations algorithm is used for the coupling of the pressure and velocity. Findings It has been found that buoyancy-driven flow strengthens with increasing nominal Rayleigh number Ra, but the convective transport weakens with increasing Bingham number Bn, because of additional flow resistance arising from yield stress in Bingham fluids. The relative contribution of thermal conduction (advection) to the total thermal transport strengthens (diminishes) with increasing AR for a given set of values of Ra and Pr for both Newtonian and Bingham fluids for both boundary conditions, and the thermal transport takes place purely because of conduction for tall enclosures. Originality/value Correlations for the mean Nusselt number Nu ¯ have been proposed for both boundary conditions for both Newtonian and Bingham fluids using scaling arguments, and the correlations have been demonstrated to predict Nu ¯ obtained from simulation data for 1/4 ≤ AR ≤ 4, 103 ≤ Ra ≤ 105 and Pr = 500.


1985 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 391-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Arter

Fully three-dimensional numerical solutions are presented for Rayleigh-Bénard convection subject to stress-free boundary conditions. A motion with square planform is studied for varying Rayleigh number R and Prandtl number σ. It may be understood partly in terms of a truncated modal representation (after Lorenz 1963). Thermal layers of unusual structure are found at high R. For small σ, steady solutions exist, but are not of ‘flywheel’ type, and the heat transport depends strongly on σ. The study also verifies that laminar convective flows may be ergodic.


2013 ◽  
Vol 730 ◽  
pp. 442-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Shishkina ◽  
Susanne Horn ◽  
Sebastian Wagner

AbstractTo approximate the velocity and temperature within the boundary layers in turbulent thermal convection at moderate Rayleigh numbers, we consider the Falkner–Skan ansatz, which is a generalization of the Prandtl–Blasius one to a non-zero-pressure-gradient case. This ansatz takes into account the influence of the angle of attack $\beta $ of the large-scale circulation of a fluid inside a convection cell against the heated/cooled horizontal plate. With respect to turbulent Rayleigh–Bénard convection, we derive several theoretical estimates, among them the limiting cases of the temperature profiles for all angles $\beta $, for infinite and for infinitesimal Prandtl numbers $\mathit{Pr}$. Dependences on $\mathit{Pr}$ and $\beta $ of the ratio of the thermal to viscous boundary layers are obtained from the numerical solutions of the boundary layers equations. For particular cases of $\beta $, accurate approximations are developed as functions on $\mathit{Pr}$. The theoretical results are corroborated by our direct numerical simulations for $\mathit{Pr}= 0. 786$ (air) and $\mathit{Pr}= 4. 38$ (water). The angle of attack $\beta $ is estimated based on the information on the locations within the plane of the large-scale circulation where the time-averaged wall shear stress vanishes. For the fluids considered it is found that $\beta \approx 0. 7\mathrm{\pi} $ and the theoretical predictions based on the Falkner–Skan approximation for this $\beta $ leads to better agreement with the DNS results, compared with the Prandtl–Blasius approximation for $\beta = \mathrm{\pi} $.


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