Title: Three-dimensional simulation of Rayleigh-Benard convection in a rectangular cavity

Authors: N.Y. Zhan, M. Yang, Z.Y. Wang, L. Li, Z.Z. Zheng

Addresses: College of Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China. ' College of Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China. ' College of Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China. ' College of Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China. ' College of Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China

Abstract: Natural convection of air is numerically simulated in a three-dimensional rectangular cavity heated from below using SIMPLE algorithm with a QUICK scheme. According to the comparison, the results suggest that the different results occur when the different initial conditions are given. But the influence of initial conditions appears in some range. The influence of the lateral boundaries becomes slighter when convection becomes stronger. According to the comparison three-dimensional results with two-dimensional results, the flow patterns and heat transfer in the central part of the cavity can be assumed as two-dimensional flow.

Keywords: three-dimensional simulation; 3D simulation; natural convection; initial conditions; lateral boundaries; Rayleigh-Benard convection; rectangular cavities; flow patterns; heat transfer; CFD; computational fluid dynamics; numerical simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2008.021331

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2008 Vol.8 No.7/8, pp.526 - 535

Published online: 19 Nov 2008 *

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