Heat transfer in a three-dimensional rectangular cavity oriented at an angle to the free-stream

Abstract

We consider a flow of a viscous incompressible heat-conducting fluid over a cubic cavity. The heat transfer on the bottom of the cavity rotated at an angle to the free stream is studied numerically. The numerical algorithm includes a finite-difference approximation in the spatial coordinates, a semi-implicit time integration method, and a modified version of an iterative stabilized method of biconjugate gradients with an algebraic multigrid preconditioner for solving the Poisson equation. The algorithm is designed for the use of multiprocessor computers. Two different inlet flow conditions are considered: a steady-state flow and a steady flow with superimposed periodic perturbations. In the first case, it is shown that the integral heat transfer rate increases monotonically with increase in the cavity rotation angle α. For α = 45°, the increase in the heat flux amounts to 20%. The presence of periodic disturbances may result in up to 3-fold increase in the integral heat transfer rate as compared to the case of the steady-state inlet flow. The enhancement of heat transfer occurs when the frequency of the inlet flow disturbances is close to the frequency of unstable modes of the mixing layer formed at the upper boundary of the cavity.