Mixed Convection Heat Transfer and Entropy Generation in a Water-filled Square Cavity Partially Heated from Below: The Effects of Richardson and Prandtl Numbers

Abstract

In the present study, fluid flow, heat transfer, and entropy generation for mixed convection inside a water-filled square cavity were investigated numerically. The sidewalls of the cavity, which move upwards, are kept at low-temperature Tc while only a part in the center of the bottom wall is kept at high-temperature Th and the remaining parts are kept adiabatic. The governing equations, in stream function–vorticity form, are discretized and solved using the finite difference method. Particular attention was paid to the influence of the Prandtl numbers of 5.534, 3.045 and 2, corresponding respectively to the water temperatures of 303.15 K, 333.15 K and 363.15 K. The numerical results are presented in the form of streamlines, isotherms, and entropy generation contours for different values of the Richardson numbers at an arbitrary Reynolds number Re=102. Besides this, the evolution of the average Nusselt number and the average entropy generation is also reported. The obtained results show interesting behaviors of the flow and thermal fields, which mainly involve stable symmetric and non-symmetric steady-state solutions, as well as unsteady regimes, depending on specific values of the Richardson and Prandtl numbers. It is additionally observed that the average Nusselt number increases and the average entropy generation decreases when both the Richardson and Prandtl numbers increase.