Title: Effect of inclined thick fin on natural convection in a cavity heated from bottom

Authors: Yasin Varol; Filiz Ozgen

Addresses: Department of Automotive Engineering, Technology Faculty, Firat University, 23119 Elazig, Turkey ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technology Faculty, Firat University, 23119 Elazig, Turkey

Abstract: In this study, natural convection heat transfer in a square cavity with an adiabatic fin mounted on a vertical wall was investigated numerically. Vertical boundaries were adiabatic and horizontal boundaries were isothermal at different constant temperature. Two-dimensional equations of conservation of mass, momentum and energy were solved using finite difference method. Successive under relaxation (SUR) method was used to solve linear algebraic equations. Results were obtained for various geometrical parameters as the thermal conductivity ratio (RK = 0.1, 1.0 and 10), inclination angle of the fin (30° ≤ φ ≤ 150°), thickness of the fin (0.033 ≤ t ≤ 0.2), and Rayleigh numbers (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 106). Location and length of fin was fixed as h = w = 0.5. Results were presented with streamlines, isotherms, local and mean Nusselt numbers. It was found that Rayleigh number and the fin mounted on the wall had significant effect on natural convection heat transfer and flow field. The thick fin can be used as control parameter of heat and fluid flow.

Keywords: natural convection; square enclosures; thick fins; numerical simulation; finite element method; FEM; inclined fins; cavity heating; heat transfer; square cavities; finite difference method; FDM; thermal conductivity ratio; inclination angle; fin thickness; Rayleigh numbers; wall-mounted fins; fluid flow.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2015.067324

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2015 Vol.15 No.1, pp.47 - 55

Published online: 05 Feb 2015 *

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