Effect of inclined thick fin on natural convection in a cavity heated from bottom

Abstract

In this study, natural convection heat transfer in a square cavity with an adiabatic fin mounted on a vertical wall was investigated numerically. Vertical boundaries were adiabatic and horizontal boundaries were isothermal at different constant temperature. Two–dimensional equations of conservation of mass, momentum and energy were solved using finite difference method. Successive under relaxation (SUR) method was used to solve linear algebraic equations. Results were obtained for various geometrical parameters as the thermal conductivity ratio (RK = 0.1, 1.0 and 10), inclination angle of the fin (30° ≤ φ ≤ 150°), thickness of the fin (0.033 ≤ t ≤ 0.2), and Rayleigh numbers (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 106). Location and length of fin was fixed as h = w = 0.5. Results were presented with streamlines, isotherms, local and mean Nusselt numbers. It was found that Rayleigh number and the fin mounted on the wall had significant effect on natural convection heat transfer and flow field. The thick fin can be used as control parameter of heat and fluid flow.