Heat Transfer Effect in an Air Cooled Ventilated Enclosure

Abstract

Fluid flow and heat transfer in a mechanically ventilated enclosure using a mixed air-distribution system at various levels have been numerically simulated. Thermally activated fluid is supplied through various slots of the vertical channel wall, flush in with the isothermal ceiling and flush out through a port in the opposite wall. The horizontal walls are assumed to be impermeable and adiabatic. Steady, laminar, and incompressible flow under a Boussinesq approximation has been considered, and numerical results for the Navier–Stokes equation and energy equation are obtained using a finite volume method based on the semi-implicit method for pressure linked equations algorithm for the following parameters: locations of inlet and outlets, and different values of Grashof numbers and Reynolds numbers. The proposed numerical model has been validated by comparing its predictions with those of other models’ data in the literature. The validated model is then used to investigate the effects of the Reynolds number and room aspect ratio on the flow velocity and thermal characteristics within the room. The flow structures and thermal activities are studied for Richardson’s number in the range of . Variation of the convection coefficient along the wall for cold and hot fluids at different locations has been investigated, and cooling efficiencies are found to be maximum when the inlet and the outlet are placed at the middle and lower parts, respectively, of the hot and the cold walls.