Laminar Natural Convection of Air In a Square Cavity With a Vertically/Horizontally Located Heated Plate Inside It

Abstract

A numerical study has been performed for laminar natural convection in a square cavity containing a heated plate located at vertical and horizontal situations by using finite difference method. Top and bottom of the cavity are adiabatic, the two vertical walls of the cavity have constant temperature lower than the plate’s temperature. The flow is assumed to be two-dimensional.The significant parameters are Grashof number(Gr),aspect ratio(A) and position of the thin plate(A1,A2).Grashof number is varied from , while aspect ratio and positions of the heated plate were studied(A=0.25,0.5,0.75),(A1=0.25,0.5,0.75) respectively.Air was chosen as a working fluid(Pr=0.7).In present study, the effect of the position and aspect ratio of heated plate on heat transfer and fluid flow are reported.From the present analysis it is found that with the increase of Gr, the heat transfer rates(Nusselt number) increases in both vertical and horizontal positions of the plate. When aspect ratio of the thin plate decreases, also decreases.For vertical situation of the plate, heat transfer is more enhanced than for horizontal. The numerical results of average Nusselt number values have been confirmed by comparing it to similar known previous works using the same boundary conditions. Good agreement is obtaine.