Natural Convection in a cavity/ Buoyancy

Induced Flow in a cavity

Abstract: Convection is the mode of heat transfer that involves

the macroscopic movement of the medium itself. Convection is
of two types depending on the cause of the flow of the medium:
Natural Convection and Forced Convection.
In natural convection the flow of the medium takes place due to
the difference in density of the hot and cold fluid portions of the
medium and due to buoyancy forces.
In this experiment we are analysing the effect of temperature
differences in a fluid medium and also understanding the role
gravity plays in the process of natural convection.
The experiment is repeated for various Rayleigh numbers and
we see what this change means to the flow of the fluid under
consideration.

1.Introduction
Natural Convection is taking place all around us all the time. The
behaviour of the fluid during natural convection is of major
concern for applications of this phenomenon.
The objective of the experimental analysis of natural convection
is not only to visualize the effect that the difference in density
causes but also the role gravity plays in driving this motion.
As air gets hotter its density decreases and it occupies more
volume for the same mass and this results in buoyant force that
pushes it higher and as it moves higher it displaces the cold air
which comes down.
This develops into a sort a cycle that keeps occurring wherever
there is a difference in temperature of the surface which can
heat(or cool) the air.
We use the Navier Stokes equations in order to analyse this
motion.
Nomenclature:
u - X-velocity
v - Y-velocity
𝜌 - Density
p - Pressure
µ - Dynamic viscosity
β - Volumetric thermal expansion coefficient
α - Thermal Diffusivity
ʋ - Kinematic Viscosity

2.Physical Model and Governing Equations

The physical model is a four wall
cavity where the top and bottom walls
are insulated and the left wall is at a
higher temperature than the right wall.

The fluid velocity in the x-direction is ‘u’ and in the y-direction is

‘v’.
The governing equations we use in the analysis of this problem
are the continuity equation and the x and y momentum equations
and the energy equation which belong to the Navier-Stokes
equations.
Assumptions:
1. 2-Dimensional
2. Incompressible (𝜌 = constant)
3. Bousinessq Approximation.
4. Laminar Flow.
Then the governing equations get simplified to -
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣
Continuity Equation: + =0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
X-Momentum Equation:
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑝 𝜕2 𝑢 𝜕2 𝑢
𝜌 [𝑢 +𝑣 ]= − +𝜇[ + ] + 𝜌𝑔𝑥
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 2 𝜕𝑦 2

Y-Momentum Equation:
𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑝 𝜕2𝑣 𝜕2𝑣
𝜌 [𝑢 +𝑣 ]= − + 𝜇 [ 2 + 2 ] + 𝜌𝑔𝑦
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇
Energy Equation: 𝜌𝐶𝑝 [𝑢 +𝑣 ] = 𝑘(∇2 𝑇) + 𝑞𝑣
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
Now, qv = 0, gx = 0 and gy = -g
1 𝜕𝑃 1 𝜌∞ − 𝜌
β=− ( )= − ( )
𝜌 𝜕𝑇 𝜌 𝑇∞ − 𝑇
(𝜌∞ − 𝜌) = −𝜌 β(𝑇∞ − 𝑇)
The essence of Bousinessq approximation is that the difference
in density is negligible unless they are multiplied by gravity.
Since the fluid outside the boundary layer is stagnant the
pressure is just the static pressure. The pressure term used in
the Navier Stokes equation is Dynamic + static.
𝜕𝑝
= −𝜌∞ 𝑔
𝜕𝑦
𝜕𝑝
− + 𝜌𝑔𝑦 = −𝜌𝑔 + 𝜌∞ 𝑔 = (𝜌∞ − 𝜌)𝑔 = 𝜌𝑔𝛽 (𝑇 − 𝑇∞ )
𝜕𝑦
after applying bousinessq approximation the gravity term includes the
static pressure term and the pressure term just includes the dynamic
pressure.
Non-Dimension Parameters:
x*=x/L; y*=y/L;
u*=u/(α/L); v*=v/(α/L);
𝑔𝛽(𝑇ℎ −𝑇𝑐 )𝐿3 𝑇−𝑇𝑐
p*=p/ (𝜌(α/L)2 ); 𝑅𝑎 = ; 𝑃𝑟 = 𝜗/𝛼 ; 𝜃 =
𝜗𝛼 𝑇ℎ −𝑇𝑐

So, the governing equations become:

𝑈𝜕𝑢∗ 𝑈𝜕𝑣 ∗
+ =0
𝐿𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝐿𝜕𝑦 ∗
Which reduces to:
𝜕𝑢∗ 𝜕𝑣 ∗
+ =0
𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗
x-momentum Equation(dimensionless):
𝛼 2 ∗ 𝜕𝑢∗ ∗
𝜕𝑢∗ 𝜌𝛼 2 𝜕𝑝∗ 𝛼 𝜕 2 𝑢∗ 𝜕 2 𝑢∗
𝜌 3 [𝑢 +𝑣 ]= − 3 +𝜇 3[ + ]
𝐿 𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗ 𝐿 𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝐿 𝜕𝑥 ∗ 2 𝜕𝑦 ∗ 2
Which finally reduces to (in x-direction):
𝜕𝑢∗
∗ ∗
𝜕𝑢∗ 𝜕𝑝∗ 𝜕 2 𝑢∗ 𝜕 2 𝑢∗
[𝑢 +𝑣 ] = − ∗ + 𝑃𝑟 [ ∗ 2 + ∗ 2 ]
𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗ 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
Similarly in y-direction:
𝜕𝑣 ∗
∗ ∗
𝜕𝑣 ∗ 𝜕𝑝∗ 𝜕2𝑣 ∗ 𝜕2𝑣 ∗ 𝐿3
[𝑢 +𝑣 ] = − ∗ + 𝑃𝑟 [ ∗ 2 + ∗ 2 ] + 𝜌𝑔𝛽(𝑇 − 𝑇∞ ) 2
𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜌𝛼
The third term on the RHS is reduced to Ra*Pr* 𝜃

Energy Equation:
𝛼 ∗
𝜕𝜃 ∗
𝜕𝜃 (𝑇ℎ − 𝑇𝑐 ) 𝜕 2 𝜃 𝜕2𝜃
𝜌𝐶𝑝 2 (𝑇ℎ − 𝑇𝑐 ) [𝑢 +𝑣 ]=𝑘 ( ∗2 + ∗2 )
𝐿 𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗ 𝐿2 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
which reduces to
 𝜕𝜃
∗ ∗
𝜕𝜃 𝜕2𝜃 𝜕2𝜃
𝑢 +𝑣 = +
𝜕𝑥 ∗ 𝜕𝑦 ∗ 𝜕𝑥 ∗2 𝜕𝑦 ∗2
For our Calculations we use:
Th = 500C Tc = 400C
Properties of air at 450C
𝜌 = 1.1105kg/m3
β = 2/(Th+Tc)=2/(323+313)=3.1447*10^-3
α = 2.5014*10^-5 m2/s
ʋ = 1.7759*10^-5 m2/s
µ = 1.97722*10^-5 m2/s
k = 0.02791 W/mK
Cp = k/(𝜌*α)= 1005J/kg-K
𝑔𝛽(𝑇ℎ −𝑇𝑐 )𝐿3
𝑅𝑎 = J=k(Th-Tc)/L Nu= q’’/J
𝜗𝛼

for,
Ra L(m) Nu J(W/m2)
103 0.0113 1.116 24.7
4
10 0.024 2.234 11.629
5
10 0.052 4.51 5.367
6
10 0.113 8.79 2.47
The values of Nu for the respective Ra have been obtained from well-
established journal research papers.

3.Grid Independence Study

In order to do the grid independence study the Nu obtained for
each grid for a particular Ra number is compared to the standard
value.
For Ra=103,
 No. of Element No.of Total Nu
Divisions Size elements Surface
heat flux
30 7.99*10-4 900 27.6532 1.119
40 7.99*10-4 1600 27.64 1.119
50 7.99*10-4 2500 27.6323 1.119
For Ra=104,
No. of Element No.of elements Total Nu
Divisions Size Surface
heat flux
30 1.69*10-3 900 25.773 2.216
40 1.69*10-3 1600 25.7754 2.216
50 1.69*10-3 2500 25.775 2.216
For Ra=105,
No. of Element Size No. of Total Surface Nu
Divisions elements heat flux
30 3.67*10-3 900 24.104 4.49
40 3.67*10-3 1600 24.104 4.49
50 3.67*10-3 2500 24.103 4.49
For Ra=106,
No. of Element Size No. of Total Nu
Divisions elements Surface heat
flux
30 4*10-3 900 21.882 8.86
40 4*10-3 1600 21.88 8.86
-3
50 4*10 2500 21.86 8.85
For all of the above grid study an unstructured grid has been
used and in all the cases only the no. of divisions is changed, the
bias factor is kept constant.
As we can see the result is not varying with grid sizes. The grid
size with 40 divisions is chosen for each Rayleigh number to
showcase the Temperature distribution and the stream functions
in each case.
 4.Results and Discussion
For Ra=103

Figure 1 Temperature Distribution

For Ra=104
Figure 2 Streamline Pattern
Figure 3 Temperature Distribution

Figure 4 Streamline Pattern

For Ra=105

Figure 5 Temperature Distribution

Figure 6 Streamline Pattern

For Ra= 106

Figure 8 Streamline pattern

The temperature distribution for different Rayleigh numbers

shows us the effect of the velocity of the flow on the temperature
distribution inside the cavity. We can also visualize the mixing
kind of motion of the hot and cold air.
The Nusselt number we get from our Ansys simulation is in close
approximation with the results obtained from verified sources
with absolute error % less than 1% in each case.
Ra 103 104 105 106
Nu(sources) 1.116 2.234 4.51 8.79
Nu(Ansys) 1.119 2.216 4.49 8.86
Absolute 0.003 0.018 0.02 0.07
error
% Absolute 0.27 0.81 0.44 0.8
error

But one of the things to observe is that for the computation the
method used for the first 3 Rayleigh numbers was the SIMPLE
method but for Ra=106 if we use the SIMPLE method the solution
doesn’t converge but start oscillating. The amplitude of this
oscillation can be reduced by using finer grid structures but it
cannot be made to converge. However, if we use COUPLED
method to solve this the solution converges and we get our
desired output.
5.Conclusion
From the experiment conducted it is observed that as the
Rayleigh number increases there is more intermixing of the hot
and cold air(in this case).
As the Rayleigh number approaches the transitional stage
SIMPLE method is no longer able to converge the solution.
The thickness of the boundary layer also changes with Rayleigh
numbers.
6.References
1. F.P. Incropera, D.P. Dewitt, T.L. Bergman, A.S. Lavine, “Principles of
HEAT and MASS TRANSFER”, John Wiley & sons publication, 6th edition,
pages 559-564,587-590.