Numerical investigation of double diffusive buoyancy forces induced natural convection in a cavity partially heated and cooled from sidewalls

Abstract

This paper deals with a numerical investigation of double-diffusive natural convective heat and mass transfer in a cavity filled with Newtonian fluid. The active parts of two vertical walls of the cavity are maintained at fixed but different temperatures and concentrations, while the other two walls, as well as inactive areas of the sidewalls, are considered to be adiabatic and impermeable to mass transfer. The length of the thermally active part equals half of the height. The non-dimensional forms of governing transport equations that describe double-diffusive natural convection for two-dimensional incompressible flow are functions of temperature or energy, concentration, vorticity, and stream-function. The coupled differential equations are discretized via FDM (Finite Difference Method). The Successive-Over-Relaxation (SOR) method is used in the solution of the stream function equation. The analysis has been done for an enclosure with different aspect ratios ranging from 0.5 to 11 for three different combinations of partially active sections. The results are presented graphically in terms of streamlines, isotherms and isoconcentrations. In addition, the heat and mass transfer rate in the cavity is measured in terms of the average Nusselt and Sherwood numbers for various parameters including thermal Grashof number, Lewis number, buoyancy ratio and aspect ratio. It is revealed that the placement order of partially thermally active walls and the buoyancy ratio influence significantly the flow pattern and the corresponding heat and mass transfer performance in the cavity.

Keywords

• Natural convection
• Double diffusivity
• Cavity
• Partially active sidewalls
• Numerical simulation
• Heat and mass transfer