Natural convection in a triangular cavity filled with air under the effect of external air stream cooling

Abstract

AbstractNatural convection in a triangular cavity filled with air is investigated numerically. In this paper, the cavity is exposed to air stream cooling exerted on its sides and it is heated by a fixed heat flux from the base. The air inside the cavity is assumed to be laminar and obeying Boussinesq approximation. The governing equations are solved numerically using the finite volume technique with SIMPLE algorithm. The results are achieved with a range of Rayleigh number (104 < Ra < 107), free stream Reynolds number (103 < Re∞ < 1.5 × 104), four aspect ratios (AR = 0.25, 0.5, 0.866, and 1) and five inclination angles (ϕ = 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 90°). The influence of these parameters is displayed on the stream function, isotherms lines, local and average Nusselt numbers. The results reveal that the heat transfer rate increases as Rayleigh number, free stream Reynolds number and AR increase. The highest heat transfer rate is obtained at ϕ = 0° while the lowest one is obtained at ϕ = 90°. Furthermore, as the AR augments, the local and average Nusselt numbers are enhanced and the stream function is formed of two symmetric counter‐rotating vortices.