Numerical solution of convective heat transfer in a polar cavity

Abstract

Numerical solution of 2-D polar cavity is very less investigated analytically, numerically and experimentally. The investigation is mainly to understand the flow phenomena in the domain. One of the difficulties that occur for the numerical investigation is domain setup for complex geometry. The numerical solution for polar cavity is made possible by ANSYS FLUENT. Steady state incompressible ideal gas is considered for simplicity and other mechanical and thermal properties of fluid are constant with respect to temperature and pressure. The cavity’s stationary walls such as inner radial wall and side wall kept as isothermal wall, while outer radial wall is set in motion in circumferential direction. The physical characteristic of flow phenomena in the polar cavity is analysed for different Reynolds numbers and different angles (300, 600 and 900). Based on the mean velocity results, convective heat transfer coefficient in the driven curve cavity is computed. At end of the study, it is expected the convective coefficient increases with respect to the Reynolds numbers and cavity angle. The results are verified based on the numerical solution found in the in the published literature.