Natural Convection of Micropolar Fluids in an Open Cavity

Abstract

A numerical simulation is carried out to investigate the natural convection of micropolar fluids in an open cavity. The open cavity is constructed by two adiabatic horizontal walls and one heated vertical wall, while the open end has several different geometric features. The governing equations for the micropolar fluids, which were first presented by A. C. Eringen, are solved by using the cubic spline collocation method. The material parameters employed in the study include Prandtl number, Grashof number, and the characteristic parameters of the micropolar fluids. Emphasis is aimed at the behavior displayed by the micropolar fluids. The numerical results of the flow fields are discussed with plots of isotherms, streamlines, and variation of Nusselt number. The results indicate that Newtonian fluids have more significant convection heat transfer effect than micropolar fluids, and the thermal transport in the cavity depends to a large extent on the geometric feature of the opening.