Parametric study on mixed convection heat transfer in an inclined arc-shape cavity

Abstract

This paper presents a parametric study on mixed convection heat transfer in an inclined arc-shape cavity subjected to a moving lid. The governing equations for the inclined arc-shape cavity were derived with the incorporation of inertia and buoyant force terms and solved by using the finite-volume method and numerical grid generation scheme. The parametric study considered three physical parameters including inclination angle, Reynolds number and Grashof number, and explored the effect of these parameters on the flow field and heat transfer characteristics. Computations were conducted for the Reynolds number ranging from 100 to 1500, Grashof number from 105 to 107 and inclination angle from 150 to 600. The numerical results show that the flow pattern becomes inertia-dominant and the strength of the primary vortex generally increases as the Reynlods number increases. As the Grashof number increases, the strength of the inertial-induced vortex decreases and the strength of the buoyancy-induced vortex increases. The strength of the vortexes decreases with the increasing inclination angle and the buoyancy-induced flow becomes more dominant. The average Nusselt number increases as the Grashof number increases for all the inclination angles studied here. The local friction increases with the increasing inclination angle, and becomes significant as the Grashof number increases.