Turbulent Natural Convection of Heat with Localized Heating and Cooling on Adjacent Vertical Walls in an Enclosure

Christopher Onchaga, J.K.Sigey, J.A.Okelo, J.M.Okwoyo

Abstract: In this work, we considered natural convection in a three dimensional rectangular enclosure in the form of a room with the heater placed on the floor and two windows each on the vertical adjacent walls. A fluid motion of the Boussinesq fluid in the three dimensional cavity has been considered. To enable the analysis of the flow and heat transfer rates, a set of non-dimensional equations governing a Newtonian fluid were used. The governing equations with the boundary conditions were described using three-point central and forward difference approximations for non-uniform mesh. The resulting finite difference equations were then solved using numerical methods. The solutions were presented at Reynolds number, Re=5, 500 and Prandtl number, Pr=0.71. The results were presented in graphical form and discussed. The results show that the region in the middle of the room is warm and near the window is relatively cold.

Keywords: Convection, turbulence, laminar, energy, buoyancy