Numerical Study of Mixed Convection in Baffled Vented Cavity

Abstract

Mixed convection is numerically studied in a baffled vented cavity with constant heat flux from a uniformly heated left vertical wall. An external airflow enters the cavity through the inlet opening in the right vertical wall and exits from the outlet opening in the opposite wall. The two-dimensional mathematical model includes a system of five governing partial differential equations of continuity, linear momentum and energy, discretized by the finite difference method, and solved by the Thomas algorithm and the Gauss Seidel Method. Flow and thermal fields are investigated by numerical simulations of air cooling with a Reynolds number in the range 10 ≤ Re ≤ 200, and Rayleigh number: 104 ≤ Ra ≤ 106. Three different locations of the two heated baffles are used in the configurations to analyze the effect of heat transfer in terms of streamlines, local Nusselt number, velocity and isotherms within the three configurations. The results show that the locations of the heated baffles along the horizontal walls enable to create simultaneously the isolated zone and the heated zone in the baffled vented cavity.