Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T10:01:47.810Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Experiments on transient natural convection in a cavity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

G. N. Ivey
Affiliation:
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, G.P.O. Box 4, Canberra 2601

Abstract

A laboratory experiment is used to study the transient flow in an initially isothermal cavity at temperature T0 following the rapid change of the two vertical endwalls to temperatures T0 ± ΔT respectively. Individual temperature records are taken and the transient flow in the entire cavity is visualized with the aid of a tracer technique. It is shown that an oscillatory approach to final steady-state conditions exists for certain flow regimes, although the form of the oscillatory response is different to that suggested by previous work. It is argued that this oscillatory behaviour is due to the inertia of the flow entering the interior of the cavity from the sidewall boundary layers, which may lead to a form of internal hydraulic jump if the Rayleigh number is sufficiently large.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1984 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bejan, A., Al-Homoud, A. A. & Imberger, J. 1981 Experimental study of high-Rayleigh-number convection in a horizontal cavity with different end temperatures. J. Fluid Mech. 109, 283299.Google Scholar
Gresho, P. M., Lee, R. L., Chan, S. T. & Sani, R. L. 1980 Solution of the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes and Boussinesq equations using the Galerkin finite element method. In Approximation Methods for Navier-Stokes Problems (ed. R. Rautmann). Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 771, pp. 203222. Springer.
Hamblin, P. F. & Ivey, G. N. 1983 Convection near the temperature of maximum density due to horizontal temperature differences. Submitted to J. Fluid Mech.Google Scholar
Lighthill, J. 1978 Waves in Fluids. Cambridge University Press.
Patterson, J. & Imberger, J. 1980 Unsteady natural convection in a rectangular cavity. J. Fluid Mech. 100, 6586.Google Scholar
Patterson, J. C. 1983 On the existence of an oscillatory approach to steady natural convection in cavities. Trans. ASME C: J. Heat Transfer (to be published).Google Scholar
Pimputkar, S. M. & Ostrach, S. 1981 Convective effects in crystal growth. J. Crystal Growth 55, 614646.Google Scholar
Segur, J. B. 1953 Physical properties of glycerol and its solutions. In Glycerol (ed. C. S. Miner & N. N. Dalton). Reinhold.
Turner, J. S. 1973 Buoyancy Effects in Fluids. Cambridge University Press.
Wilkinson, D. L. & Wood, I. R. 1971 A rapidly varied flow phenomenon in a two-layer flow. J. Fluid Mech. 47, 241256.Google Scholar
Yewell, P., Poulikakos, D. & Bejan, A. 1982 Transient natural convection experiments in shallow enclosures. Trans. ASME C: J. Heat Transfer 104, 533538.Google Scholar