Numerical Study of Natural Convection in a Finned Rectangular Enclosure Heated From Below and Cooled From Above

Abstract

Laminar natural convection in an air filled enclosures heated from below and cooled from above is studied numerically. Fins are attached to the hot wall in order to study the effect of fins number on the heat transfer. The working fluid media is air with Prandtl number of 0.71 and Rayleigh number ranging from 10 4 to 10 6 . The coupled equations of continuity; momentum and energy are solved by a finite volume method. The SIMPLE algorithm is used to solve iteratively the pressure velocities coupling. The numerical investigations in this analysis are made over a wide range of parameters, cavity aspect ratio, Rayleigh number and number of fins. The effect of these parameters was evaluated. Results are presented graphically in the form of streamlines, isotherms and also with temperature profiles and average Nusselt numbers. The heat transfer increases with the increase of the aspect ratio and Rayleigh number and decreases with the increase of fins number. Numerical Study of Natural Convection in a Finned Rectangular Enclosure From Below and Above