NATURAL CONVECTION IN RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURES HEATED FROM ONE SIDE AND COOLED ROM THE CEILING

摘要

Steady natural convection of air in two-dimensional enclosure isothermally heated from one side and cooled from the ceiling is analyzed numerically using a stream function-vorticity formulation. Based on numerical predictions, the effects of Rayleigh number and aspect ratio on flow pattern and energy transport are investigated for Rayleigh numbers ranging from 10~3 to 10~7, and for five different aspect ratios of 0.25,0.50,1.0,2.0 and 4.0. The effect of Rayleigh number on heat transfer is found to be more significant when the enclosure is shallow (a_r>1)and the influence of aspect ratio is stronger when the enclosure is tall and the Rayleigh number is high.