Numerical study of periodically heated wall effect on natural convection in an enclosure

Abstract

The present numerical study focuses on sinusoidal heating and aspect ratio effects on heat flow of free convection of fluid inside the enclosure. The side walls are maintained at ambient temperature and the middle horizontal wall that divides the enclosure evenly is heated to sinusoidal temperature and the other horizontal walls are adiabatic. The numerical solution of the transport equations is done by the finite difference method to determine the heat transfer and thermal penetration with respect to aspect ratio, sinusoidal frequency and Rayleigh number. The numerical results of heat and fluid flow in the range of controlled governing parameters such as Rayleigh number (Ra = 105), sinusoidal frequency (1 ⩽N⩽ 4 ) and aspect ratio (0.2 ⩽A⩽ 4) are analysed in terms of streamlines, isotherms, heat penetration length and Nusselt number. It has been found that the 100% thermal penetration in the upper part of the enclosure of the aspect ratio A = 1 is obtained on continuous heating, while in the lower section, the maximum thermal penetration is limited to 98%, which is obtained on non-continuous heating in the enclosure of aspect ratio A = 0.2, 0.5.