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Natural turbulent convection in a partitioned cavity heated from below

Conference ·
OSTI ID:20002515

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

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