Relationship between thermal convection intensity and aspect ratio of two triangular cavities inscribed in horizontal rectangular cavities

Abstract

Purpose

Sets out to discuss laminar free convection characteristics of air confined to a square cavity and a horizontal rectangular cavity (aspect ratio A=2) along with the viable isosceles triangular cavities and right‐angle triangular cavities that may be inscribed inside the two original cavities.

Design/methodology/approach

The three distinct cavities shared the base wall as the heated wall, while the remaining sides and upper walls are cold. The finite volume method is used to perform the numerical computation of the transient conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy. The methodology takes into account the second‐order‐accurate quick scheme for the discretization of the convective term, whereas the pressure‐velocity coupling is handled with the simple scheme. The working fluid is air, which is not assumed as a Boussinesqian gas, so that all influencing thermophysical properties of air are taken as temperature‐dependent. The cavity problem is examined over a variety of height‐based Grashof numbers ranging from 10³ to 10⁶.

Findings

Numerical results are reported for the velocity fields, the temperature field as well as the local and mean wall heat fluxes along the heated base wall. It was found that the airflow remains symmetric for the isosceles triangular cavity with aspect ratio A=1 even at high Grashof numbers. In contrast, for an isosceles triangular cavity with an aspect ratio A=2, a pitchfork bifurcation begins to form at a critical Grashof number of 2 × 10⁵, breaking the airflow symmetry. The computed local and mean heat fluxes along the hot base wall are compared for the three configurations under study and the corresponding maximum heat transfer levels are clearly identified for the two aspect ratios A=1 and 2.

Research limitations/implications

As a continuity of this work, there are two avenues that future research could explore and indeed are presently being explored by the authors within these geometries. The first deals with heat transfer enhancement using mixture of gases. The second is to re‐examine the problem under turbulent conditions.

Originality/value

The present study seeks to maximize the convection heat transport in cavities and minimize their sizes. The peculiarity of the derived cavities is their cross‐section area being half of the cross‐section area of the basic cavities.

Citation

Hassan Ridouane, E. and Campo, A. (2006), "Relationship between thermal convection intensity and aspect ratio of two triangular cavities inscribed in horizontal rectangular cavities", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 338-355. https://doi.org/10.1108/09615530610649753