Natural convection of micropolar fluids in a rectangular enclosure

Abstract

The steady, laminar, natural convection flow of a micropolar fluid in an enclosure has been investigated numerically. The transport equations for vorticity, angular momentum, and energy are solved with the aid of the cubic spline collocation method. Parametric studies of the effects of microstructure on the fluid flow and heat transfer in the enclosure have been performed. The flow phenomenon is discussed for a series of Rayleigh numbers and aspect ratios. A similar flow pattern as obtained for a Newtonian fluid is also shown in the present problem. The heat transfer rate of micropolar fluids is found to be smaller than that of the Newtonian fluid. The streamline distribution and heat transfer characteristics obtained in the present work are prove to be in agreement with the earlier studies.