Prandtl number effects on laminar mixed convection heat transfer in a lid-driven cavity

Abstract

This paper considers the flow and heat transfer in a square cavity where the flow is induced by a shear force resulting from the motion of the upper lid combined with buoyancy force due to bottom heating. The work is motivated by the application in the production of plane glass where the glass sheet is pulled over a bath of molten metal while being cooled and solidified. The numerical simulations, therefore, are performed for two-dimensional laminar flow (100 ⩽ Re ⩽ 2200), and effects of small to moderate Prandtl numbers (i.e. 0.01 < Pr < 50) on the flow and the heat transfer in the cavity are investigated for different values of Richardson number. The temperature and the flow fields in the cavity are calculated and presented to illustrate the strong influence of Prandtl number. The local and average Nusselt numbers are also reported for different values of Re, Ri, and Pr.