Effect of a Solid Insert on Thermal Stratification in a Side-Heated Natural Convection Enclosure

Effect of a solid insert on thermal stratification in the natural convection enclosure is numerically investigated. The enclosure consists of two differently heated vertical walls and two adiabatic horizontal walls. A solid insert is located in the middle of the enclosure. The non-dimensional governing equations are solved by using the SIMPLER algorithm. The computations are carried out with the variations of thermal conductivity, width and height of the solid insert. The Prandtl number of the fluid in an enclosure is fixed at Pr=0.71, Two cases of Rayleigh number are considered in the present study, i.e., Ra:10$^3$ and 10$^{6}$ . The thermal stratification attenuates as thermal conductivity, width, and height of the solid insert are increased. As the thermal conductivity ratio of a solid insert to fluid increases beyond (equation omitted)10$^3$, the thermal stratification ratio shows an asymptotic value.

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