Natural convection boundary layer in a 5:1 cavity

Abstract

The natural convection boundary layer in a tall cavity with an aspect ratio of AR=5 is studied numerically. The Rayleigh number based on the width of the cavity is RaW=4.028×108. The large eddy simulation method together with different subgrid scale models are used to study the near-wall behavior of the boundary layer and the turbulence structure. It is found that the dynamic subgrid scale model is the most accurate model in terms of predicting the transition location. Results also indicate that the conventional grid resolutions expressed in viscous units that are used for forced convection flows are not appropriate in the case of the natural convection flows and higher grid resolutions are necessary. The turbulence statistics are studied in both the turbulent and the transition regions. Although the results of the fully turbulent region show no important grid dependency, it is found that the accuracy of the results in the transition region is highly grid dependent, suggesting that the subgrid scale fluctuations in the transition region are of different nature compared to the fully turbulent region. The budget of the momentum, temperature, and Reynolds stress transport equations are studied and the behavior of the important terms in the boundary layer is investigated.