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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…

1116

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: 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: 25 November 2019

Shihua Lu, Jianqi Zhu, Dongyan Gao, Weiwei Chen and Xinjun Li

This study aims to show the importance of natural convection of supercritical fluid in an inclined cavity. The heat transfer performance of natural convection can be improved.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to show the importance of natural convection of supercritical fluid in an inclined cavity. The heat transfer performance of natural convection can be improved.

Design/methodology/approach

A model of an inclined cavity was set up to simulate the natural convection of supercritical fluid. The influence of inclined angles (30 to approximately 90°) and pressures (8 to approximately 12 MPa) are analyzed. To ascertain flow and heat transfer of supercritical fluid natural convection, this paper conducts a numerical investigation using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), which is proven to be precise and convenient.

Findings

The results show that the higher heat transfer performance can be obtained with an inclined angle of 30°. It is also presented that the heat transfer performance under pressure of 10 MPa is the best. In addition, common criterion number correlations of average Nusselt number are also fitted.

Originality/value

These study results can provide a theoretical reference for the study of heat transfer of supercritical fluid natural convection in engineering.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 30 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2015

Kerim Yapici and Salih Obut

The purpose of this paper is to numerically investigate steady, laminar natural and mixed convection heat transfer in a two-dimensional cavity by using a finite volume method with…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to numerically investigate steady, laminar natural and mixed convection heat transfer in a two-dimensional cavity by using a finite volume method with a fourth-order approximation of convective terms, with and without the presence of nanoparticles. Highly accurate benchmark results are also provided.

Design/methodology/approach

A finite volume method on a non-uniform staggered grid is used for the solution of two-dimensional momentum and energy conservation equations. Diffusion terms, in the momentum and energy equations, are approximated using second-order central differences, whereas a non-uniform four-point fourth-order interpolation (FPFOI) scheme is developed for the convective terms. Coupled mass and momentum conservation equations are solved iteratively using a semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equation method.

Findings

For the case of natural convection problem at high-Rayleigh numbers, grid density must be sufficiently high in order to obtain grid-independent results and capture reality of the physics. Heat transfer enhancement for natural convection is observed up to a certain value of the nanoparticle volume fraction. After that value, heat transfer deterioration is found with increasing nanoparticle volume fraction.

Originality/value

Developed a non-uniform FPFOI scheme. Highly accurate benchmark results for the heat transfer of Al2O3-water nanofluid in a cavity are provided.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 25 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1994

Marcel Lacroix and Antoine Joyeux

A numerical study has been conducted for natural convection heattransfer for air around two vertically separated horizontal heated cylindersplaced inside an isothermal rectangular…

Abstract

A numerical study has been conducted for natural convection heat transfer for air around two vertically separated horizontal heated cylinders placed inside an isothermal rectangular enclosure having finite wall conductances. The interaction between convection in the fluid filled cavity and conduction in the walls surrounding the cavity is investigated. Results have been obtained for Rayleigh numbers (Ra) between 103 and 106, dimensionless wall thickness (W) between 0.5 and 1.375 and dimensionless wall‐fluid thermal conductivity ratio (α) between 0.01 and 5.0. The results indicate that wall heat conduction reduces the average temperature differences across the cavity, partially stabilizes the flow, and decreases natural convection heat transfer. The overall heat transfer coefficient for both cylinders is correlated with CRan for different W and α.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 4 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 May 2012

S.M. Aminossadati and B. Ghasemi

The purpose of this paper is to numerically examine the conjugate natural convection in an inclined enclosure with a conducting centred block. This enclosure is filled with an…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to numerically examine the conjugate natural convection in an inclined enclosure with a conducting centred block. This enclosure is filled with an Ethylene Glycol‐copper nanofluid. This study utilises numerical simulations to quantify the effects of pertinent parameters such as the Rayleigh number, the solid volume fraction, the length and the thermal conductivity of the centred block and the inclination angle of the enclosure on the conjugate natural convection characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

The SIMPLE algorithm is utilised to solve the governing equations with the corresponding boundary conditions. The convection‐diffusion terms are discretised by a power‐law scheme and the system is numerically modelled in FORTRAN.

Findings

The results show that the utilisation of the nanofluid enhances the thermal performance of the enclosure and that the length of the centred block affects the heat transfer rate. The results also show that the higher block thermal conductivity results in a better heat transfer that is most noticeable at low Rayleigh numbers, and that increasing the inclination angle improves the heat transfer, especially at high Rayleigh numbers.

Originality/value

This paper presents an original research on conjugate natural convection in nanofluid‐filled enclosures.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2020

Lei Wang, Yang Cai, Wei-Wei Wang, Run-Zhe Liu, Di Liu, Fu-Yun Zhao and Hanqing Wang

This paper aims to numerically investigate the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) convection heat transfer of nanofluid inside a differentially heated enclosure with various fin…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to numerically investigate the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) convection heat transfer of nanofluid inside a differentially heated enclosure with various fin morphologies.

Design/methodology/approach

The fluid flow within the cavity was governed by N-S equations while it within porous medium was solved by the non-Darcy model, called the Darcy–Forchheimer model based on representative element-averaging method. Empirical correlations from experimental data are used to evaluate the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity. Relevant governing parameters, including thermal Rayleigh number (105-107), Hartmann number (0-50), Darcy number (10−6-10−1), thermal conductivity ratio of porous matrix (1-103), nanoparticles volume fraction (0-0.04) and topology designs of porous fins, are sensitively varied to identify their effects and roles on the fluid flow and heat transfer. Particularly, heatlines are used to investigate the mechanism of heat transport.

Findings

Numerical results demonstrate that the predictions of average Nusselt number are augmented by using more porous fins with high permeability, and this effect becomes opposite in tiny Darcy numbers. Particularly, for high Darcy and Rayleigh numbers, the shortest fins could achieve the best performance of heat transfer. In addition, the prediction of average Nusselt number reduces with an increase in Hartmann numbers. An optimal nanoparticles concentration also exists to maximize heat transfer enhancement. Finally, numerical correlations for the average Nusselt number were proposed as functions of these governing parameters.

Practical implications

Present work could benefit the thermal design of electronic cooling and thermal carriers in nanofluid engineering.

Social implications

Present work could benefit the thermal design of electronic cooling and thermal carriers in nanofluid engineering. In addition, optimum thermal removals could enhance the lifetime of electronics, therefore reducing the cost of energy and materials.

Originality/value

To the best knowledge of authors, there are not any studies considering the synergetic effects of porous fins on MHD convection of nanofluids. Present work could benefit the thermal design of electronic cooling and thermal carriers in nanofluid engineering.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

He Ya‐Ling, Ding Wen‐Jing and Tao Wen‐Quan

The effect of the tube wall heat conduction on the natural convection in a tilted long cylindrical envelope with constant, but different temperature of the two ends and an…

Abstract

The effect of the tube wall heat conduction on the natural convection in a tilted long cylindrical envelope with constant, but different temperature of the two ends and an adiabatic outer surface was numerically investigated. The envelope is supposed to be a simplified model for the pulse tube in a pulse tube refrigerator when the pulse tube is positioned at different orientations. It is found that the cylindrical envelope lateral wall heat conduction can enhance the heat transfer from the hot end to the cold end, not only because of the increase in pure heat conduction in the wall, but more importantly, also the intensification of the natural convection within the enclosure. This enhancement is resulted from the big temperature difference between the tube wall and the adjacent fluid near the hot and cold ends. Adoption of low thermal conductivity tube can effectively reduce such additional heat transfers from hot to cold end, thus reducing the loss of cooling capacity for the pulse tube refrigerator.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 14 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 November 2023

Oktay Çiçek, A. Filiz Baytaş and A. Cihat Baytaş

This study aims to numerically scrutinize the entropy generation minimization and mixed convective heat transfer of multi-walled carbon nanotubes–Fe3O4/water hybrid nanofluid flow…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to numerically scrutinize the entropy generation minimization and mixed convective heat transfer of multi-walled carbon nanotubes–Fe3O4/water hybrid nanofluid flow in a lid-driven square enclosure with heat generation in the presence of a porous layer on inner surfaces, considering local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) approach and the non-Darcy flow model.

Design/methodology/approach

The dimensionless governing equations for hybrid nanofluid and solid phases are solved by applying the finite volume method and semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations algorithm.

Findings

The roles of the internal heat generation in the porous layer, LTNE model and nanoparticles volume fraction on mixed convection phenomenon and entropy generation are introduced for lid-driven cavity hybrid nanofluid flow. Based on the investigation of entropy generation and heat transfer, the minimum total entropy generation and average Nusselt numbers are found at 1 ≤ Ri ≤ 10 where the effect of the forced and free convection flow directions being opposite each other is very significant. When considering various nanoparticle volume fractions, it becomes evident that the minimum entropy generation occurs in the case of φ = 0.1%. The outcomes of LTNE number reveal the operating parameters in which thermal equilibrium occurs between hybrid nanofluid and solid phases.

Originality/value

The analysis of entropy generation under various shear and buoyancy forces plays a significant role in the suitable thermal design and optimization of mixed convective heat transfer applications. This research significantly contributes to the optimization of design and the advancement of innovative solutions across diverse engineering disciplines, such as packed-bed thermal energy storage and thermal insulation.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2018

Yuan Ma, Rasul Mohebbi, Mohammad Mehdi Rashidi and Zhigang Yang

This paper aims to numerically investigate the natural convection heat transfer of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-water nanofluid in U-shaped enclosure equipped with a hot…

269

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to numerically investigate the natural convection heat transfer of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-water nanofluid in U-shaped enclosure equipped with a hot obstacle by using the lattice Boltzmann method.

Design/methodology/approach

The combination of the three topics (U-shaped enclosure, different positions of the hot obstacle and MWCNTs-water nanofluid) is innovative in the present study. In total, 15 different positions of the hot obstacle have been arranged, and the effects of pertinent parameters such as Rayleigh numbers, the solid volume fraction of the MWCNTs nanoparticles on the flow field, temperature distribution and the rate of heat transfer inside the enclosure are also investigated.

Findings

It is found that the average Nusselt number increased by raising the Rayleigh number, and so did the nanoparticle solid volume fraction regardless the position of the hot obstacle. Moreover, enclosures where the hot obstacle is located at the bottom region proved to provide a better rate of heat transfer at high Rayleigh number (106). It is concluded that at a low Ra number (103-105), the higher heat transfer rate and Nu number will be obtained when the hot obstacle is located in the left or right channel.

Originality/value

In the literature, no trace of studying the natural convection of nanofluids in U-shaped enclosures with heating obstacles was found. Also, MWCNTs were less used as nanoparticles. As the natural convection of nanofluids in thermal engineering applications would expand the existing knowledge, the current researchers conducted a numerical study of the natural convection of Maxwell nanofluid with MWCNTs in U-shaped enclosure equipped with a hot obstacle by using lattice Boltzmann method.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

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