Natural convection in cavities with constant flux heating at the bottom wall and isothermal cooling from the sidewalls

Abstract

Natural convection in rectangular cavities is studied numerically using a finite volume based computational procedure. In many applications, especially for cooling of electronic components, a natural convection configuration is encountered where a constant flux heating element at the bottom surface are cooled from the isothermal sidewalls while the top wall can be considered adiabatic. The present study is based on such a configuration where a constant flux heat source is symmetrically embedded at the bottom wall. The length of the heat source is varied from 20 to 80% of the total length of the bottom wall. The non-heated parts of the bottom wall are considered adiabatic. The Grashof number is varied from 10 3 to 10 6. The study includes computations for cavities at various aspect ratios, ranging from 0.5 to 2, and inclination angles of the cavity from 0° to 30°. The effects aspect ratio, inclination angles, and heat source length on the convection and heat transfer process in the cavity are analysed. Results are presented in the form of streamline and isotherm plots as well as the variation of the Nusselt number and maximum temperature at the heat source surface under different conditions.