Unsteady natural convection in a water-filled isosceles triangular enclosure heated from below

Lei, Chengwang, Armfield, Steven, and Patterson, John (2008) Unsteady natural convection in a water-filled isosceles triangular enclosure heated from below. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 51 (11-12). pp. 2637-2650.

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Abstract

This study is concerned with transient natural convection in a water-filled isosceles triangular enclosure subject to cooling at the inclined surfaces and simultaneous heating at the base. The unsteady flows over a range of Grashof numbers are visualized using a shadowgraph technique, and corresponding numerical simulations are carried out using a Finite Volume Method. Both the experiments and numerical simulations have revealed that the transient flow development in the enclosure due to abrupt heating and cooling through the boundaries can be classified into three distinct stages, that is, an early stage, a transitional stage, and a steady/quasi-steady stage. The major flow features at each of the three stages are described and the Grashof number effects on the flow development and heat transfer are discussed. It is found that, for a fixed aspect ratio of 0.5, a transition of the unsteady flow from symmetric to asymmetric structures occurs for Grashof numbers above 2.95 × 104. Moreover, the present heat transfer calculations indicate that the average Nusselt number over the inclined and horizontal surfaces approximately scales with Gr0.2.

Item ID: 10069
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 0017-9310
Keywords: natural convection; triangular enclosure; pitchfork bifurcation; shadowgraph visualization
Funders: Australian Research Council
Date Deposited: 27 Mar 2010 05:27
FoR Codes: 09 ENGINEERING > 0915 Interdisciplinary Engineering > 091504 Fluidisation and Fluid Mechanics @ 50%
09 ENGINEERING > 0915 Interdisciplinary Engineering > 091505 Heat and Mass Transfer Operations @ 50%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970109 Expanding Knowledge in Engineering @ 100%
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