INVESTIGATION OF TEMPERATURE UNIFORMITY IN AN OPEN CAVITY OF BUOYANCY ASSISTED MIXED CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER WITH MULTIPLE DISCRETE INLET AND OUTLET PORTS

摘要

Turbulent buoyancy assisted mixed convection heat transfer in an open cavity with multiple discrete inlet and outlet ports is investigated experimentally. The side walls of the rectangular cavity are symmetrically heated with constant and uniform temperature. The temperature distribution in the interior of the cavity is presented and discussed for the Reynolds numbers of 3919 ≤ Re ≤ 35405, the Grashof numbers of 1.56 × 10~7 ≤ Gr ≤ 3.45 × 10~7, the Prandtl number of Pr = 0.71 and for various quantities of inlet and outlet ports ranging from 1 × 1 to 5 × 5 with the same total opening area. Increasing Reynolds number and decreasing Grashof number can improve the temperature uniformity in the cavity. As the dispersion of the inlet ports increases, the maximum temperature gradient of the fluids in the cavity is decreased while the average temperature gradient is increased. The effect of inlet/outlet forms, Reynolds number and Grashof number on the Nusselt number is also investigated.