Simulation of Mixed Convection Flow in Square Cavities by Lattice Boltzmann Method

The problem of cavity flow concerning mixed convection fluid flow and heat transfer phenomenon is less pursued in lattice Boltzmann methods compared to other conventional numerical techniques. The objective of this present work is to study mixed convection flow in a differentially heated lid-driven square cavity filled with low Prandtl number (Pr) fluid such as, air (Pr = 0.71) with varying Richardson number (Ri) between 0.01 and 100 by using thermal lattice Boltzmann method in the incompressible limit. In order to discuss the effect of both aiding and opposing mechanisms of mixed convection, two different sets of velocity boundary conditions at the two vertical lids are considered. A comparison is carried out for those cases which have existing results computed through other numerical methods and good agreement has been found.