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The purpose of this paper is to present transient turbulent natural convection with surface thermal radiation in a square differentially heated enclosure using non-primitive variables like stream function and vorticity.

The governing equations formulated in dimensionless variables “stream function, vorticity and temperature,” within the Boussinesq approach taking into account the standard two equation k-ε turbulence model with physical boundary conditions have been solved using an iterative implicit finite-difference method.

It has been found that using of the presented algebraic transformation of the mesh allows to effectively conduct numerical analysis of turbulent natural convection with thermal surface radiation. It has been shown that the average convective Nusselt number increases with the Rayleigh number and decreases with the surface emissivity, while the average radiative Nusselt number is an increasing function of these key parameters. It has been shown that a presence of surface thermal radiation effect leads to an expansion of the eddy viscosity zones close to the walls.

It should be noted that for the first time in this paper we used stream function and vorticity variables with very effective algebraic transformation of the mesh in order to create a non-uniform mesh for an analysis of turbulent flow. Such method allows to reduce the computational time essentially in comparison with using of the primitive variables. The considered method has been successfully validated on the basis of the experimental and numerical data of other authors in case of turbulent natural convection without thermal radiation. The used numerical method would benefit scientists and engineers to become familiar with the analysis of turbulent convective heat and mass transfer, and the way to predict the properties of the turbulent flow in advanced nuclear systems, in industrial sectors including transportation, power generation, chemical sectors, ventilation, air-conditioning, etc.

Because the local Re numbers, ratio of inertia to viscous forces, are not same at different regions of the enclosures, the present study aims to deal with the influences of using the turbulent/transition models on numerical results of the natural convection and flow field within a trapezoidal enclosure.

The three-dimensional (3D) trapezoidal enclosure with different inclined side walls of 75, 90 and 105 degrees are considered, where the side walls are heated and cooled at Ra = 1.5 × 10⁹ for all cases. The turbulent models of the k-ε-RNG, k- ω-shear-stress transport (SST) and the newly developed transition/turbulent model of Re_θ-γ-transition SST are utilized to analyze the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics within the enclosure and compared their results with validated results.

Comprehensive comparisons have been carried out for all cases in terms of flow and temperature fields, as well as turbulent quantities, such as turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent viscosity ratio. Furthermore, the velocity and thermal boundary layers have been investigated, and the approximate transition regions for laminar, transitional and turbulent regimes have been determined. Finally, the heat transfer coefficient and skin friction coefficient values have been presented and compared in terms of different turbulent models and configurations. The results show that the transition/turbulence model has better prediction for the flow and heat fields than fully turbulent models, especially for local parameters for all abovementioned governing parameters.

The originality of this work is to analyze the 3D turbulent/transitional natural convection with different turbulence/transition models in a trapezoidal enclosure.

In this paper a numerical simulation, based on finite difference techniques, has been developed in order to analyse turbulent natural and mixed convection of air in internal flows. The study has been restricted to two‐dimensional cavities with the possibility of inlet and outlet ports, and with internal heat sources. Turbulence is modelled by means of two‐equation k‐ε turbulence models, both in the simplest form using wall functions and in the more general form of low‐Reynolds‐number k‐ε models. The couple time average governing equations (continuity, momentum, energy, and turbulence quantities) are solved in a segregated manner using the SIMPLEX method. An implicit control volume formulation of the differential equations has been employed. Some illustrative numerical results are presented to study the influence of geometry and boundary conditions in cavities. A comparison of different k‐ε turbulence models has also been presented.

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.

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.

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.

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

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the capacity of two equation turbulence models to reproduce mean and fluctuating quantities in the case of both natural convection and isothermal flows.

Numerical predictions of mean velocity profiles, air and wall temperatures as well as turbulent kinetic energy by three different two equation models (standard k‐ε, renormalisation group k‐ε and shear‐stress transport‐k‐ω) are compared with corresponding experimental values.

The prediction of mean velocities and temperatures is in all cases satisfactory. On the other hand, the prediction of turbulent quantities is less precise.

The three models under consideration in this paper can be used for engineering applications such as HVAC calculations.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a numerical analysis of transient turbulent natural convection combined with surface thermal radiation in a square cavity with a local heater.

The domain of interest includes the air-filled cavity with cold vertical walls, adiabatic horizontal walls and isothermal heater located on the bottom cavity wall. It is assumed in the analysis that the thermophysical properties of the fluid are independent of temperature and the flow is turbulent. Surface thermal radiation is considered for more accurate analysis of the complex heat transfer inside the cavity. The governing equations have been discretized using the finite difference method with the non-uniform grid on the basis of the special algebraic transformation. Turbulence was modeled using the k–ε model. Simulations have been carried out for different values of the Rayleigh number, surface emissivity and location of the heater.

It has been found that the presence of surface radiation leads to both an increase in the average total Nusselt number and intensive cooling of such type of system. A significant intensification of convective flow was also observed owing to an increase in the Rayleigh number. It should be noted that a displacement of the heater from central part of the bottom wall leads to significant modification of the thermal plume and flow pattern inside the cavity.

An efficient numerical technique has been developed to solve this problem. The originality of this work is to analyze unsteady turbulent natural convection combined with surface thermal radiation in a square air-filled cavity in the presence of a local isothermal heater. The results would benefit scientists and engineers to become familiar with the analysis of turbulent convective–radiative heat transfer in enclosures with local heaters, and the way to predict the heat transfer rate in advanced technical systems, in industrial sectors including transportation, power generation, chemical sectors and electronics.

A calculation procedure for turbulent natural convection in enclosures is described. A two‐equation model based on the eddy diffusivity concept for the temperature field possessing a form similar to the k—ε model of flow is incorporated, thus, extending the applicability of the eddy diffusivity models by removing constraints of the Reynolds analogy between momentum and thermal transport processes. As a test problem, natural convection in a square cavity subjected to differential side‐wall heating is analysed. The vertical walls are divided into isothermal and constant heat‐flux surfaces and heated non‐uniformly. AtRa = 10¹⁰ and for an air—filled cavity (Pr = 0.71), variations of heating patterns are found to significantly alter the field characteristics. Numerical predictions demonstrate dissimilar features of the velocity and temperature fluctuations.

The purpose of this study is to numerically and experimentally investigate the natural convection heat transfer in flat plates and plates with square, trapezoidal and triangular corrugations.

This work is an extension of the previous studies by Verderio et al. (2021a, 2021b, 2021c, 2021d, 2022a). An experimental apparatus was built to measure the plates’ temperatures during the natural convection cooling process. Several physical parameters were evaluated through the experimental methodology. Free and open-source computational tools were used to simulate the experimental conditions and to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the thermal plume characteristics over the plates.

The numerical results were experimentally validated with reasonable accuracy in the range of studied RaLP for the different plates. Empirical correlations of Nu¯LPexp=f(RaLP), h¯conv=f(RaLP) and Nu¯LPexp⋅(A/AP)=f(RaLP), with good accuracy and statistical representativeness, were obtained for the studied geometries. The convective thermal efficiency of corrugated plates (Δη), as a function of RaLP, was also experimentally studied quantitatively. In agreement with the findings of Oosthuizen and Garrett (2001), the experimental and numerical results proved that the increase in the heat exchange area of the corrugations has a greater influence on the convective exchange and the thermal efficiency than the disturbances caused in the flow (which reduce h¯conv). The plate with trapezoidal corrugations presented the highest convective thermal efficiency, followed by the plates with square and triangular corrugations. It was also proved that the thermal efficiency of corrugated plates increases with RaLP.

The results demonstrate that corrugated surfaces have greater thermal efficiency than flat plates in heating and/or cooling systems by natural convection. This way, corrugated plates can reduce the dependence on auxiliary forced convection systems, with application in technological areas and Industry 4.0.

The empirical correlations obtained for the corrected Nusselt number and thermal efficiency for the corrugated plate geometries studied are original and unpublished, as well as the experimental validation of the developed three-dimensional numerical code.

Melting of pure metal in presence of turbulent natural convection with Rayleigh number ranging from 106 to 109 has been studied numerically. The governing equations are formulated in terms of stream function—vorticity—temperature and the moving distorted solid/liquid interface is tracked using body‐fitted coordinates. The turbulent flow is taken into account using an algebraic eddy‐viscosity model with Prandtl's mixing length. Results indicate that turbulent natural convection plays a more significant role than laminar flow in the process of melting. Heat transfer and melting rates are significantly increased and a correlation for the average Nusselt number at the heated wall in the quasi‐steady melting regime is proposed.

This paper aims to study, experimentally validate and select the main physical and numerical parameters of influence in computational numerical simulations to evaluate mean heat flux by natural convection on square flat plates.

Several numerical models were built to study the influence of physical and numerical parameters about the predictions of the natural convection heat transfer rates on the surface of a flat plate with aspect ratio = 1, in isothermal conditions, turbulent regime and using the free and open-source software OpenFOAM®. The studied parameters were: boundary conditions (using or not using wall functions in properties ε, κ, ν_t and ω), degree of mesh refinement, refinement layers and turbulence models [κ – ε and κ – ω Shear Stress Transport (SST)]. From the comparison of the values of the mean Nusselt number, obtained from numerical simulations and literature experimental results, the authors evaluated the precision of the studied parameters, validating and selecting the most appropriate to the analyzed problem situation.

The validation and agreement of the numerical results could be proven with excellent precision from experimental references of the technical scientific literature. More refined meshes with refinement layers were not suitable for the studies developed. The κ – ε and κ – ω SST turbulence models, in meshes without refinement layers, proved to be equivalent. Whether or not to use wall functions in turbulent boundary conditions proved to be irrelevant as to the accuracy of results for the problem situation studied.

Use of the physical and numerical parameters is studied and validated for various applications in natural convection heat transfer of technology and industry areas.

Use of free and open-source software as a research tool in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) area, especially in conditions without large financial resources or state-of-the-art infrastructure.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is yet not available in existing literature.