NATURAL CONVECTION IN A FULLY PARTITIONED, INCLINED ENCLOSURE

Abstract

Natural convection in an inclined enclosure with a centrally located, complete partition has been investigated by a finite-difference procedure. The thermal conditions along the partition are not known beforehand; rather, they are an outcome of the coupling of the natural convection systems on either side of the enclosure partition. To resolve this coupling, a consecutive calculation procedure is used in which the natural convection on either side of the enclosure is successively solved (until convergence) with information exchange in each cycle of solution. Results have been obtained for enclosures with overall aspect ratios of 1 and 2 for Rayleigh numbers up to 107 and for inclination angles of 30, 45, 60, and 90 degrees. Results indicate that the strength of the convective motion and the average Nusselt number are both considerably reduced owing to the presence of the partition. The partition temperature increases monotonically along its length. For a vertical enclosure, the non-uniformity in the partition temperature increases with Rayleigh number, while for an inclined enclosure (0 = 45°), the overall nonuniformity in the partition temperature is not significantly influenced by the Rayleigh number. The Nusselt number along the hot (cold) surface attains its maximum value in the neighborhood of the location where the cooled (heated) fluid from the partition meets the surface. Along the partition the maximum Nusselt number is obtained at the center of the partition when the enclosure is vertical. For an inclined enclosure, the maximum Nusselt number occurs at the partition center only at low Rayleigh numbers. At high Rayleigh numbers the maximum is shifted toward the two corners of the partition.