Combined Forced And Natural Convection In A Square Cavity - Numerical Solution And Scale Analysis

Abstract

Combined forced and natural convection in a square cavity is analyzed Vertical walls are maintained at different temperatures and the horizontal walls are adiabatic. The mass flow is induced by a shear force resulting from the motion of the upper wall combined with buoyancy force due to lateral wall heating. Laminar and two-dimensional flow is assumed and the problem is solved numerically by using the Finite Volume-SOLA method Numerical results are obtained for the Grashof number ranging from 10* to 10 and the Reynolds number values of 100, 400 and 1000. The effect of the Prandtl number, varying from 0.01 to 7.0, is also investigated. The average Nusselt number is reported for different values of the above parameters in order to asce