Three-dimensional study of combined natural convection and conduction in a cubical cavity

Abstract

In this study, combined heat transfer by natural convection and conduction in a cubical cavity surrounded by solid walls are investigated numerically. The right vertical wall is heated by an isothermal temperature Th while the left wall is kept at a cold temperature Tc. The other walls of the cavity are considered adiabatic. The governing equations for conservation of mass, momentum and energy are discretized by the finite volume approach and solved by the SIMPLE algorithm. The effect of the angle of inclination on the fluid flow characteristics and heat transfer is discussed for different values of Rayleigh number. The results reveal that the inclination decreases the global heat flux through the cubical cavity. Moreover, the convective heat transfer becomes weak, which means that the heat transfer is essentially done by conduction (φ > 60).