Influence of radiation effect on turbulent natural convection in cubic cavity at normal temperature atmospheric gas

The turbulence structure, boundary layer, and heat transfer of turbulent natural convection, including radiation effects inside the cubic cavity, were investigated in this study. Large eddy simulation was conducted, and Vreman model was adopted for the dynamic subgrid-scale model. To calculate the radiative heat flux efficiently, a coupled calculation method, using the radiation element method by ray emission model, was constructed. To separate the radiation effects of the gas and surface radiations, four calculation conditions have been analyzed; non-radiation, gas radiation, surface radiation, and combined radiation. Observing the vortices structure using the Q value revealed that the surface radiation effect was more dominant for the flow instability than the gas radiation effect. An evaluation of the boundary layers for both the gas and surface radiation effects showed that the flow circulation inside the cubic cavity was enhanced. The surface radiation was dominant in the generation of the shear stress by the turbulent flow. The total heat transfer, which includes the convective and radiative heat transfers, have been investigated. The surface radiation affected on the radiative heat transfer significantly as compared to the gas radiation. The radiation effects changed the radiative heat transfers, while the convective heat transfers of all the calculation conditions were similar. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.