Natural Convection and Entropy Generation in a Small Aspect Ratio Cavity

Abstract

In this work, the heat and mass transfer process in a vertical cavity of small aspect ratio, AR = 1=10 , heated from two vertical plates localized in the side walls of the cavity near the bottom, is studied. The equations of motion are written in non-dimensional form, depending on two nondimensional parameters (the Rayleigh and Prandtl numbers) and are solved numerically by the use of the SIMPLE algorithm. Calculations are performed for a fixed value of the Prandtl number and three different Rayleigh numbers. The non-dimensional heat flux on the plates, given by the average Nusselt number, and the non-dimensional entropy production of the process are calculated.