An Analytical Model for Natural Convection in a Rectangular Enclosure with Differentially Heated Vertical Walls

Alberto Fichera, Manuel Marcoux, Arturo Pagano and Rosaria Volpe
Additional contact information
Alberto Fichera: Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Manuel Marcoux: Institut de Mècaniques des Fluides (IMFT), Université de Toulouse, 31013 Toulouse, France
Arturo Pagano: Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Rosaria Volpe: Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-20

Abstract: This paper proposes an analytical model for natural convection in a closed rectangular enclosure filled by a fluid, with imposed heat fluxes at the vertical walls and adiabatic horizontal walls. The analytical model offers a simplified, but easy to handle, description of the temperature and velocity fields. The predicted temperature, velocity, and pressure fields are shown to be in agreement with those obtained from a reliable numerical model. The Nusselt numbers for both the analytical and numerical solutions are then calculated and compared, varying both the aspect ratio of the enclosure and the Rayleigh number. Based on the comparisons, it is possible to assess the dependence of the reliability of the analytical model on the aspect ratio of the enclosure, showing that the prediction error rapidly decreases with the increase of the enclosure slenderness.

Keywords: natural convection; analytical model; rectangular enclosure; heat flux; Nusselt number (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/12/3220/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/12/3220/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:12:p:3220-:d:374490

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().