TRANSIENT LEADING TO PERIODIC FLUID FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER IN A CAVITY WITH CONSTANT TEMPERATURE WALLS DUE TO AN ISOTHERMAL ROTATING OBJECT

摘要

Computational analysis of transient phenomenon followed by the periodic state of laminar flow and heat transfer due to a rotating object in a square cavity is investigated. A finite-volume-based computational methodology utilizing primitive variables is used. Various isothermal rotating objects (circle, square and equilateral triangle) with different sizes are placed in the middle of the cavity. A combination of a fixed computational grid with a sliding mesh was utilized for the square and triangle shapes. The motionless object is set in rotation at time t =0 and its temperature is maintained constant but different from the temperature of the walls of the cavity. Natural convection heat transfer is neglected. For a given shape of the object and a constant angular velocity, a range of rotating Reynolds numbers are covered for a Pr =5 fluid. The Reynolds numbers were selected so that the flow fields are not generally affected by the Taylor instabilities (Ta<1750). The evolving flow field and the interaction of the rotating objects with the recirculating vortices at the four corners are elucidated. Similarities and differences of the flow and thermal fields for various shapes is discussed. Transient variations of the average Nusselt numbers on the surface of the rotating object and cavity walls show that for high Re numbers, a quasi-periodic behavior due to the onset of Taylor instabilities is dominant, whereas for low Re numbers, periodicity of the system is clearly observed. Time-integrated average Nusselt number of the cavity is correlated to the rotational Reynolds number and shape of the object. The triangle object clearly gives rise to high heat transfer followed by the square and circle objects.