Numerical study of mixed-convective cooling of a rectangular cavity with differentially heated side walls

Abstract

A numerical study is conducted to investigate mixed-convective cooling of a two-dimensional rectangular cavity with differentially heated vertical sidewalls. The horizontal walls are assumed to be adiabatic. Cold air enters the cavity through the left vertical wall and exits from the right vertical walls. A finite volume based computational procedure with collocated placement of the variables is used in the calculations. The algebraic equations are solved using the strongly implicit procedure. Six different configurations for various inlet and outlet placements have been tested for a range of Reynolds number and Richardson number. The aim of the study is to optimize the relative location of the air inlet and outlet for maximum heat transfer and minimum average temperature inside the cavity. The results have been presented in the form of thermal and dynamic fields. Influence of the Reynolds number, Richardson number, and location of inlet and outlet openings on the flow field and thermal field has been discussed. Maximum cooling efficiency, minimum average temperature, and maximum Nusselt number at the hot surface is obtained when the inlet is at the bottom of the cold wall and outlet is at the top of hot wall.