3D Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Mixed Convection in a Cubical Cavity Containing a Hot Block

Abstract

The considerable quantities of heat transfer are dissipated during the operating electronic/electrical systems and have harmful effects on the operating time. So; to keep these systems in good working condition, the location of efficient mechanical cooling systems is essential. The heat transfer rate in an enclosure intensely depends on the combination of geometrical and physical parameters. For this purpose, a 3D Numerical simulation of turbulent mixed convection in a cubical cavity containing an internal heat source in its middle was carried out. The cavity has an inlet port at the lower left face area and an outlet port located in the upper right face area. The analyses are performed for air at ambient circumstances (Pr = 0.71) and the variation of interval for Richardson number (Ri) is chosen between 0.01 and 30 to investigate three situations: dominated forced convection, natural convection, and mixed convection for a fixed dimension of the enclosure in turbulent regimes (Gr = 109). The effects of the variation of Ri, the dimensionless time, and the dynamic parameters on the thermal flow and fluid flow phenomena are presented and discussed. The obtained results show an exchange between the forces of pressure and of buoyancy in the studied interval and a strong dependence between the geometrical parameters and the heat transfer rate, and then the correlations of the combination of the parameters were proposed.

Keywords

• mixed convection; turbulent flow; cooling; heat source; 3d convection; cavity.