Natural Convection in a Partially Heated Triangular Cavity with Different Configurations of Cold Walls

Abstract

This study predicts the natural cooling of partial base hot wall of right-angled triangular cavity filled with water. The base wall of the cavity is divided into three parts (s = b/3) and made it to be partially active. The side and hypotenuse walls are detached from the middle and arranged in four different configurations namely AB, AD, BC and CD for cooling purpose. The thermally active parts such as hot and cold walls of the enclosure are maintained at constant temperature, while the remaining parts of the wall are kept insulated. The governing equations such as mass, momentum and energy equation are solved by finite volume method. The problem has been solved for different parameters such as partial hot wall, configurations of cold walls and Rayleigh number (105 ≤ Ra ≤ 107). Results are obtained from the numerical simulation using a commercial software package, FLUENT, and presented in the form of streamlines, isotherms and average Nusselt numbers. The investigation reveals that both the temperature profile and flow field are significantly affected by partial heating, changing the positions of the cold walls and Rayleigh number. It is also observed that the heat transfer rate increases with the increase in Rayleigh number.