Predictions of Buoyancy-induced Flow in Asymmetrical Heated Rotating Cavity System

Abstract

This paper presents the finite difference solutions for buoyancy-induced flow in the asymmetrical heated rotating cavity system for the range of rotational Reynolds numbers Reθ =6.13x10^5 <Reθ =4.4x106 and the mass flow rates Cw<28000<Cw < 3000. All the simulations have been carried out through the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) commercial code, ANSYS Fluent 12.0, by adopting axisymmetric, Steadystate and elliptic technique. Two well know models namely k-ε and the Reynolds stress models have been employed. The simulated results illustrate the important aspects of the heated rotating cavity flow system. The noteworthy influence of buoyancy-induced flow have been observed on the predicted stream lines, static temperature contours and the local Nusselt numbers for the rotating cavity space. A comparison of the predicted local Nusselt numbers for the hot and cold discs showed a good level of agreement with the measurements.

Keywords

• Rotating Cavity System
• Low Reynolds Number Second Moment Closure
• Buoyancy-Induced Flow