Natural convection in a fluid with nonuniformly distributed volumetric heat generation

摘要

Characteristics of natural convection are analyzed for a heat-generating fluid in an enclosure cooled from the side, with nonuniformly distributed internal heat sources. A theoretical analysis based on analytical estimates and direct numerical simulations is presented. Under certain conditions, the characteristics of natural convection are found to be independent of the details of heat source distribution in horizontal cross sections of the flow domain. The corresponding distributions of bulk temperature and heat transfer to the wall are uniquely determined by the vertical distribution of the horizontally averaged heat source strength.