Numerical Simulation of Buoyancy-Induced Turbulent Flow Between Two Concentric Isothermal Spheres

Abstract

Buoyancy-induced turbulent flow and natural convection heat transfer between two differentially heated concentric isothermal spheres is studied numerically. The low-Reynolds-number k–ω model is used for turbulence modeling. The two-dimensional governing equations are discretized using control volume method and solved by employing the alternating direction implicit scheme. Results are presented in the form of streamline and temperature patterns, and local and average Nusselt numbers, over the heated and cooled boundaries for a wide range of Rayleigh numbers (102–1010), extending the previous studies to the turbulent flow regime and for the radius ratio of 2. The results of the flow pattern and average Nusselt numbers were compared with the previously published experimental and numerical investigations and very good agreements were observed. For low values of Rayleigh numbers, regions with conduction-dominated flow pattern accompanied with low values of Nusselt numbers were observed, while for higher Rayleigh numbers, the flow pattern was changed to the convection dominated boundary layer type flow, resulting in an increase in the rate of heat transfer and flow velocities adjacent to both inner and outer boundaries. The average Nusselt numbers were correlated against Rayleigh number and a 1/4 power dependence of Ra in both laminar and turbulent regimes is obtained.