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Article
Publication date: 4 December 2018

Alireza Rahimi, Ali Dehghan Saee, Abbas Kasaeipoor and Emad Hasani Malekshah

The purpose of this paper is to carry out a comprehensive review of some latest studies devoted to natural convection phenomenon in the enclosures because of its significant…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to carry out a comprehensive review of some latest studies devoted to natural convection phenomenon in the enclosures because of its significant industrial applications.

Design/methodology/approach

Geometries of the enclosures have considerable influences on the heat transfer which will be important in energy consumption. The most useful geometries in engineering fields are treated in this literature, and their effects on the fluid flow and heat transfer are presented.

Findings

A great variety of geometries included with different physical and thermal boundary conditions, heat sources and fluid/nanofluid media are analyzed. Moreover, the results of different types of methods including experimental, analytical and numerical are obtained. Different natures of natural convection phenomenon including laminar, steady-state and transient, turbulent are covered. Overall, the present review enhances the insight of researchers into choosing the best geometry for thermal process.

Originality/value

A comprehensive review on the most practical geometries in the industrial application is performed.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 June 2019

Jin Ho Oh and Il Seouk Park

In general, the bifurcation phenomenon of the natural convection has largely been studied. But the bifurcation of natural convection under magnetic conditions has not been studied…

Abstract

Purpose

In general, the bifurcation phenomenon of the natural convection has largely been studied. But the bifurcation of natural convection under magnetic conditions has not been studied as per the authors’ knowledge. This paper aims to investigate the changes in bifurcation phenomenon by the self-induced circular magnetic field.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors numerically solved the natural convection in an annulus. The SIMPLE algorithm was adopted for pressure-momenturm coupling. The Boussinesq approximation was used for numerical modeling of natural convection. Finally, the Lorentz force effect by the magnetic field was considered through the source terms in the momentum conservation equation.

Findings

It was determined that the heat-transfer rate changes by 17% owing to the applied magnetic effect, and the range of the Rayleigh number for flow bifurcation is changed by the magnetic effect. Moreover, under the strong magnetic condition, the flow bifurcation continues even at very high Ra. Previously, flow bifurcation has been understood as a flow instability phenomena, and the Lorentz force was regarded as a flow-damping effect; however, in this study, it was found that the magnetic field can boost the flow instability and induce flow bifurcation even in the Rayleigh number region where the bifurcation does not appear.

Originality/value

This paper is dealing with the bifurcation phenomenon in MHD natural convection problems. In the past, the electromagnetic forces were regarded as always acting to damp out the existing flows; herewith, the authors first investigated that the magnetic effect can boost the bifurcation of a kind of flow instability phenomenon.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 October 2019

Nagesh Babu Balam and Akhilesh Gupta

Modelling accurately the transient behaviour of natural convection flow in enclosures been a challenging task because of a variety of numerical errors which have limited achieving…

Abstract

Purpose

Modelling accurately the transient behaviour of natural convection flow in enclosures been a challenging task because of a variety of numerical errors which have limited achieving the higher order temporal accuracy. A fourth-order accurate finite difference method in both space and time is proposed to overcome these numerical errors and accurately model the transient behaviour of natural convection flow in enclosures using vorticity–streamfunction formulation.

Design/methodology/approach

Fourth-order wide stencil formula with appropriate one-sided difference extrapolation technique near the boundary is used for spatial discretisation, and classical fourth-order Runge–Kutta scheme is applied for transient term discretisation. The proposed method is applied on two transient case studies, i.e. convection–diffusion of a Gaussian Pulse and Taylor Vortex flow having analytical solution.

Findings

Error magnitude comparison and rate of convergence analysis of the proposed method with these analytical solutions establish fourth-order accuracy and prove the ability of the proposed method to truly capture the transient behaviour of incompressible flow. Also, to test the transient natural convection flow behaviour, the algorithm is tested on differentially heated square cavity at high Rayleigh number in the range of 103-108, followed by studying the transient periodic behaviour in a differentially heated vertical cavity of aspect ratio 8:1. An excellent comparison is obtained with standard benchmark results.

Research limitations/implications

The developed method is applied on 2D enclosures; however, the present methodology can be extended to 3D enclosures using velocity–vorticity formulations which shall be explored in future.

Originality/value

The proposed methodology to achieve fourth-order accurate transient simulation of natural convection flows is novel, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. Stable fourth-order vorticity boundary conditions are derived for boundary and external boundary regions. The selected case studies for comparison demonstrate not only the fourth-order accuracy but also the considerable reduction in error magnitude by increasing the temporal accuracy. Also, this study provides novel benchmark results at five different locations within the differentially heated vertical cavity of aspect ratio 8:1 for future comparison studies.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 30 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 January 2010

Y. Guo, R. Bennacer, S. Shen, D.E. Ameziani and M. Bouzidi

The purpose of this paper is to apply the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to simulate mixed flow, which combines natural convection for temperature difference and forced convection…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to apply the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to simulate mixed flow, which combines natural convection for temperature difference and forced convection for lid driven, in a two‐dimensional rectangular cavity over a wide range of aspect ratios (A), Rayleigh numbers (Ra) and Reynolds numbers (Re).

Design/methodology/approach

The LBM is applied to simulate the mixed flow. A multi‐relaxation technique was used successfully. A scale order analysis helped the understanding and predicting the overall heat transfer.

Findings

In the considered lid driven cavity, the Richardson number emerges as a measure of relative importance of natural and forced convection modes on the heat transfer. An expression of the overall heat transfer depending on the cavity slender (A) is deduced. The validity of the obtained expression was checked in mixed convection under the condition of low Richardson number (Ri) and the limitation condition was deduced.

Practical implications

This paper has implications for cooling system optimization and LBM technique development.

Originality/value

This paper presents a new cooling configuration, avoiding critical situation where the opposing effect induce weak heat transfer; and a stable and fast LBM approach allowing complex geometry treatment.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2024

Sílvio Aparecido Verdério Júnior, Pedro J. Coelho and Vicente Luiz Scalon

The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the geometric influence of different corrugation profiles (rectangular, trapezoidal and triangular) of varying heights on…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the geometric influence of different corrugation profiles (rectangular, trapezoidal and triangular) of varying heights on the flow and the natural convection heat transfer process over isothermal plates.

Design/methodology/approach

This work is an extension and finalization of previous studies of the leading author. The numerical methodology was proposed and experimentally validated in previous studies. Using OpenFOAM® and other free and open-source numerical-computational tools, three-dimensional numerical models were built to simulate the flow and the natural convection heat transfer process over isothermal corrugation plates with variable and constant heights.

Findings

The influence of different geometric arrangements of corrugated plates on the flow and natural convection heat transfer over isothermal plates is investigated. The influence of the height ratio parameter, as well as the resulting concave and convex profiles, on the parameters average Nusselt number, corrected average Nusselt number and convective thermal efficiency gain, is analyzed. It is shown that the total convective heat transfer and the convective thermal efficiency gain increase with the increase of the height ratio. The numerical results confirm previous findings about the predominant effects on the predominant impact of increasing the heat transfer area on the thermal efficiency gain in corrugated surfaces, in contrast to the adverse effects caused on the flow. In corrugations with heights resulting in concave profiles, the geometry with triangular corrugations presented the highest total convection heat transfer, followed by trapezoidal and rectangular. For arrangements with the same area, it was demonstrated that corrugations of constant and variable height are approximately equivalent in terms of natural convection heat transfer.

Practical implications

The results allowed a better understanding of the flow characteristics and the natural convection heat transfer process over isothermal plates with corrugations of variable height. The advantages of the surfaces studied in terms of increasing convective thermal efficiency were demonstrated, with the potential to be used in cooling systems exclusively by natural convection (or with reduced dependence on forced convection cooling systems), including in technological applications of microelectronics, robotics, internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, information technology, industry 4.0, etc.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the results presented are new in the scientific literature. Unlike previous studies conducted by the leading author, this analysis specifically analyzed the natural convection phenomenon over plates with variable-height corrugations. The obtained results will contribute to projects to improve and optimize natural convection cooling systems.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2003

Marcela Cruchaga and Diego Celentano

The modelling of steady‐state natural and mixed convection in obstructed channels is presented. The two‐dimensional numerical analysis is carried out with a finite element…

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Abstract

The modelling of steady‐state natural and mixed convection in obstructed channels is presented. The two‐dimensional numerical analysis is carried out with a finite element thermally coupled incompressible flow formulation written in terms of the primitive variables of the problem and solved via a generalized streamline operator technique. Natural convection is studied in several vertical channel configurations for a wide range of Rayleigh numbers while mixed convection is analysed in a horizontal channel with a built‐in rectangular cylinder for different Reynolds and Grashof numbers. The results obtained in this work are validated with available experiments and other existing numerical solutions.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2016

Marneni Narahari and M Kamran

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of thermal radiation and viscous dissipation on steady natural convection flow of a viscous incompressible fluid along a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of thermal radiation and viscous dissipation on steady natural convection flow of a viscous incompressible fluid along a uniformly moving infinite vertical porous plate with Newtonian heating in the presence of transverse magnetic field. The governing non-linear boundary layer equations are solved by using homotopy analysis method (HAM). The effects of various system parameters on velocity and temperature fields are discussed graphically, and the numerical values for skin friction and Nusselt number are presented in tabular form.

Design/methodology/approach

The problem is formulated using the Boussinesq approximation under the effects of thermal radiation and transverse magnetic field. The resulting coupled system of non-linear differential equations is solved using HAM with appropriate boundary conditions for Newtonian heating of the plate. HAM is a powerful method which provides rapidly converging series solution for the velocity and temperature fields. The effects of Prandtl number, Grashof number, suction parameter, magnetic field parameter, radiation parameter and Eckert number on the fluid velocity, temperature, skin friction and Nusselt number have been investigated.

Findings

The HAM solution has been successfully applied to find the converging series solution for velocity and temperature fields in terms of pertinent system parameters. Comparison of the exact solution results agree well with the HAM solution results in the absence of Eckert number and this indicates that the HAM solutions are accurate. It is found that the velocity and temperature profiles decreases with the increase of thermal radiation and suction parameters. An increase in the magnetic field parameter leads to a rise in the fluid temperature and fall in the fluid velocity.

Research limitations/implications

The present analysis is limited to steady state laminar natural convection flow only. Unsteady natural- /mixed-convection laminar flow in the presence of thermal radiation, chemical reaction and transverse magnetic field will be investigated in a future work.

Practical implications

The study provides very useful information for heat transfer engineers to understand the heat transfer rate when the moving vertical porous surface temperature is not known a prior. The present results have immediate relevance in the design of nuclear reactors where vertical moving porous plates are using as control rods.

Originality/value

The present research work is relatively original and illustrates the effects of thermal radiation, viscous dissipation and transverse magnetic field on natural convection flow past a uniformly moving infinite vertical porous plate with Newtonian heating.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 26 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1999

C.J. Ho and F.J. Tu

The stability of two‐dimensional natural convection of water near its density maximum (cold water) inside a vertical rectangular enclosure with an aspect ratio of eight is…

Abstract

The stability of two‐dimensional natural convection of water near its density maximum (cold water) inside a vertical rectangular enclosure with an aspect ratio of eight is investigated via a series of direct numerical simulations. The simulations aim to clarify, under the influence of density inversion, the physical nature of the instability mechanism responsible for the laminar buoyancy‐driven flow transition from a steady state to an oscillatory state in the enclosure filled with cold water. Two values of the density inversion parameter, m= 0.4 and 0.5, where the density inversion of cold water may exert strong influence on the flow, are considered in the present study. The results show that the transition from steady state to periodically oscillatory convection arises in the cold‐water‐filled enclosure through a Hopf bifurcation. The oscillatory convection in the water‐filled enclosure for both values of m is found to feature an oscillatory multicellular structure within the contra‐rotating bicellular flow regions. A traveling wave motion accordingly results along the maximum density contour, which demarcates the contra‐rotating bicellular flows in the enclosure. For both cases the nature of transition into unsteadiness is found to be buoyancy‐driven. The critical Rayleigh number for the bifurcation at m = 0.4 is found to be markedly higher than that at m = 0.5.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 March 2019

Wei-Mon Yan, Hsu-Yang Teng, Chun-Han Li and Mohammad Ghalambaz

The electromagnetic field and cooling system of a high power switched reluctance motor (SRM) are studied numerically. The geometry of the motor and its main components are…

Abstract

Purpose

The electromagnetic field and cooling system of a high power switched reluctance motor (SRM) are studied numerically. The geometry of the motor and its main components are established using a computer-aided design software in the actual size. This study aims to evaluate the resulting thermal losses using the electromagnetic analysis of the motor.

Design/methodology/approach

In the electromagnetic analysis, the Joule’s loss in the copper wires of the coil windings and the iron losses (the eddy currents loss and the hysteresis loss) are considered. The flow and heat transfer model for the thermal analysis of the motor including the conduction in solid parts and convection in the fluid part is introduced. The magnetic losses are imported into the thermal analysis model in the form of internal heat generation in motor components. Several cooling system approaches were introduced, such as natural convection cooling, natural convection cooling with various types of fins over the motor casing, forced conviction air-cooled cooling system using a mounted fan, casing surface with and without heat sinks, liquid-cooled cooling system using the water in a channel shell and a hybrid air-cooled and liquid-cooled cooling system.

Findings

The results of the electromagnetics analysis show that the low rotational speed of the motor induces higher currents in coil windings, which in turn, it causes higher copper losses in SRM coil windings. For higher rotational speed of SRM, the core loss is higher than the copper loss is in SRM due to the higher frequency. An air-cooled cooling system is used for cooling of SRM. The results reveal when the rotational speed is at 4,000 rpm, the coil loss would be at the maximum value. Therefore, the coil temperature is about 197.9°C, which is higher than the tolerated standard temperature insulation material. Hence, the air-cooled system cannot reduce the temperature to the safe temperature limitation of the motor and guarantee the safe operation of SRM. Thus, a hybrid system of both air-cooled and liquid-cooled cooling system with mounting fins at the outer surface of the casing is proposed. The hybrid system with the liquid flow of Re = 1,500 provides a cooling power capable of safe operation of the motor at 117.2°C, which is adequate for standard insulation material grade E.

Originality/value

The electromagnetic field and cooling system of a high power SRM in the presence of a mounted fan at the rear of the motor are analyzed. The thermal analysis is performed for both of the air-cooled and liquid-cooled cooling systems to meet the cooling demands of the motor for the first time.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 April 2015

Abdelraheem Mahmoud Aly

Modeling of multi-phase flows for Rayleigh-Taylor instability and natural convection in a square cavity has been investigated using an incompressible smoothed particle…

Abstract

Purpose

Modeling of multi-phase flows for Rayleigh-Taylor instability and natural convection in a square cavity has been investigated using an incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (ISPH) technique. In this technique, incompressibility is enforced by using SPH projection method and a stabilized incompressible SPH method by relaxing the density invariance condition is applied. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability is introduced in two and three phases by using ISPH method. The author simulated natural convection in a square/cubic cavity using ISPH method in two and three dimensions. The solutions represented in temperature, vertical velocity and horizontal velocity have been studied with different values of Rayleigh number Ra parameter (103=Ra=105). In addition, characteristic based scheme in Finite Element Method is introduced for modeling the natural convection in a square cavity.

Findings

The results for Rayleigh-Taylor instability and natural convection flow had been compared with the previous researches.

Originality/value

Modeling of multi-phase flows for Rayleigh-Taylor instability and natural convection in a square cavity has been investigated using an ISPH technique. In ISPH method, incompressibility is enforced by using SPH projection method and a stabilized incompressible SPH method by relaxing the density invariance condition is introduced. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability is introduced in two and three phases by using ISPH method. The author simulated natural convection in a square/cubic cavity using ISPH method in two and three dimensions.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 2000