Heat transfer and entropy generation for natural convection by adiabatic obstacles inside a cavity heated on the left side

Abstract

By using finite difference method, the problem of heat transfer and entropy generation for natural convection of a fluid inside a square cavity with inner adiabatic bodies has been investigated numerically. Calculations have been made for Rayleigh numbers ranging from 102 to 5·104 for two obstacles with different heights. Results are presented as streamlines, isotherm contours and Nusselt number for Prandtl number of 0.71 (assuming the cavity is filled with air). The obtained results demonstrate the effects of pertinent parameters on the fluid flow, thermal fields and heat transfer inside the cavity. The results show that the heat transfer rates generally increase with the shrink of the obstacle size and with the increase of Rayleigh number. The entropy generation is higher at locations with large temperature gradients. Excellent agreement is obtained with previous results in the literature.

Keywords

• natural convection
• cavity
• entropy generation
• adiabatic obstacle