Confined and unconfined mixed convection flow past a rigid cube enclosed in a rectangular channel

Abstract

The present work concerns the heat transfer around a rigid cube inside either in air or in water. The fluid moves inside a channel and the cube is located at the center of the channel. The cube temperature is different from the temperature of the ambient fluid and a buoyant force acts on the cube. The Reynolds number varied between 0.01 and 100 and the Richardson number varied between -100 and 200. Both confined and unconfined flow is treated. Numerical predictions show that the Nusselt number is high in the opposing and assisting region and minimum around the forced convection. For Peclet numbers lower than 1 the Nusselt number is independent of the Richardson number and this is valid for any kind of rigid body placed in any kind of fluid.

Keywords

• Cube
• Channel
• Nusselt
• Confined
• Unconfined