An investigation of laminar natural convection in a square partitioned enclosure

수평격판으로 분리된 정사각형 밀폐공간내의 층류 자연대류 해석

The natural convective flow in a two-dimensional square enclosure with horizontal partitions is investigated numerically. The enclosure was composed of the lower hot and the upper cold horizontal walls and the adiabatic vertical walls, and two identical partitions were positioned perpendicularly at the mid-height of the right and left walls, respectively. The governing equations are solved by using the finite element method with Galerkin method. Calculations are made for different partition lengths, partition conductivites, and Rayleigh numbers based on the temperature difference between two horizontal walls and the enclosure height with water(Pr=4.95). An oscillatory motion of the natural convective flow is affected significantly by the variation of the gap width and Rayleigh number. When the gap width is comparatively short, the heat transfer rate is raised with the increase of the thermal conductivity of partitions. However, for sufficiently large gap widths at higher Rayleigh numbers, the average Nusselt numbers of the conductive partitions are smaller than those of the adiabatic partitions.