Periodic behavior flow of three-dimensional natural convection in a titled obstructed cubical enclosure

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine numerically the three natural convection of air induced by temperature difference between a cold outer cubic enclosure and a hot inner cylinder. Simulations have been carried out for Rayleigh numbers ranging from 103 to 107 and titled angle of the enclosure from 0° to 90°. The developed mathematical model is governed by the coupled equations of continuity, momentum and energy, and is solved by finite volume method. The effects of cylinder inclination and Rayleigh number on fluid flow and heat transfer are presented. The distribution of isocontours of temperature and isosurfaces of velocity eventually reaches a steady state in the range of Rayleigh numbers between 103 and 107 for titled inclination of 90°; however, for the remaining inclinations, Rayleigh number must be in the range 103-106 to avoid unsteady state, which is manifested by the division of the area containing the maximum local heat transfer rate into three parts for a Rayleigh number equal to 107 and an inclination of 90°. We mention that instability study is not included in the present paper, which is solely devoted to three-dimensional calculations. Results also indicate that optimal average heat transfer rate is obtained for both high Rayleigh number of 106 and high inclination of 90° for the two cases of the inner cylinder and cubical enclosure.

Design/methodology/approach

The manuscript deals with prediction of the three-dimensional natural convection phenomena in a cubical cavity induced by an isothermal cylinder at the center with different inclinations by simulating the flow using highly numerical methods such as finite volume method.

Findings

It is found that the local Nusselt number through active walls for titled inclination set at 90°, the symmetry of the flow is conserved and the area containing the maximum heat transfer is divided into three smaller areas situated near the upper portion of the wall, taking the maximum value. That may be due to the preparation of local occurrence of instabilities and bifurcation phenomena that appear for Ra > 107, which is not included in the present paper to save journal space. It was found also that an optimal heat transfer appears when the cylinder orientation becomes vertical (a = 90°). For this inclination, buoyancy forces act upward, corresponding to an aiding situation. In addition, heat transfer rate is increasing with Rayleigh numbers, so correlations of average Nusselt through the cubical cavity and the cylinder are established as function of two parameters (Ra, a). Comparisons of the numerical results with those obtained from all correlations show good agreements.

Originality/value

To the author’s knowledge, studies have thus far adressed three-dimensional cuboids enclosures induced by an inner shape which the location is changed. However, no study has examined three-dimensional natural convection between the inner isothermal cylinder and outer cooled cubical enclosure when the outer enclosure is tilted.

Citation

Souayeh, B., Ben-Cheikh, N. and Ben-Beya, B. (2017), "Periodic behavior flow of three-dimensional natural convection in a titled obstructed cubical enclosure", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 27 No. 9, pp. 2030-2052. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-03-2016-0096