Natural turbulent convection in a partitioned cavity heated from below

Conference · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:20002515

Blay, D; Le Quere, P

This paper concerns the natural turbulent convective flow inside a cavity which is divided into two compartments separated by a horizontal partition with an opening. Vertical walls are adiabatic; horizontal walls are kept at constant and uniform temperature; the lower wall is warmer than the upper wall. The resulting flow is related to Rayleigh-Benard flows; it is controlled by two main parameters, the Rayleigh number (Ra) and the aperture area to wall area ratio (s/S). In the present work, this flow was investigated both experimentally and numerically. Experiments were conducted in a 3D cavity (1.2 x 10{sup 9} {lt} Ra {lt} 3.7 x 10{sup 9}; s/S = 0.032) while 2D direct numerical simulations were performed (10{sup 8} {lt} Ra {lt} 2 x 10{sup 9}; s/S = 0.15). Results lead to the following conclusions: for large values of s/S, the heat transfer is controlled by the boundary layer and Nu is proportional to Ra{sup 1/3}; for small values of s/S, the heat transfer is controlled by buoyancy forces through the aperture and Nu is proportional to Ra{sup 1/2}. One application of such a flow may concern transport of heat or pollutant inside buildings.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Poitiers, Futuroscope (FR)
• OSTI ID: 20002515
• Report Number(s): CONF-990805--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
42 ENGINEERING
BUILDINGS
CAVITIES
HEATING
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
NATURAL CONVECTION
TURBULENT FLOW