Simulation of Transient Natural Convection Around an Enclosed Vertical Channel

Accurate numerical calculations have been conducted for buoyancy-driven two-dimensional flow of air between two vertical parallel isothermal plates, of aspect ratio 1, placed inside a rectangular enclosure. The Grashof number based on the channel half width is 10⁵. Insights have been obtained regarding the structure of the transient flow and thermal fields in a configuration of particular interest to electronics cooling. In the early stages of the transient the flowfield was found to be highly vortical and the net volume flow rate in the channel displayed an oscillatory behavior, periodically reversing its direction. However, the velocity profile adjacent to the heated plates maintained the same direction throughout the process, and hence the Nusselt number was relatively insensitive to the periodic flow reversal in the channel. Detailed studies of the transient flow field and the heat transfer results are presented.