NUMERICAL STUDY OF LAMINAR CONVECTION AND THERMOSOLUTAL CONVECTION IN A TWO-DIMENSIONAL TRAPEZOIDAL CAVITY
Heat transfer driven by temperature gradients and simultaneous temperature and concentration gradients has been studied numerically for horizontal prismatic cavities of trapezoidal section having a hot horizontal base, a cool inclined top and insulated vertical walls. Results are presented for a cavity with width-to-mean height ratio of 4, thermal and concentration Rayleigh numbers up to 106 and 5.105 respectively, and top surface inclinations from 0 to 15 deg to the horizontal. The Prandtl and the Schmidt number used are 0.71 and 0.6 respectively. The governing equations are expressed in terms of stream function and vorticity and body-fitted coordinates are used for mapping the sloping top wall. As the inclination of the top surface is increased, the Nusselt and Sherwood numbers decrease. The effect of opposing thermal and concentration gradients on the Nusselt and Sherwood numbers is however more important than the effect of the inclination of the top surface. Theoretical Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are compared with available experimental data.