COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF TURBULENT FORCED CONVECTION FLOW IN A SQUARE CAVITY WITH VENTILATION PORTS

A numerical study of turbulent forced convection flow inside a square cavity with inlet and outlet ports is performed. The position of the inlet port is fixed but the location of the outlet port is varied along the four walls of the cavity to investigate the best position corresponding to the maximum heat transfer rate and minimum pressure drop in the cavity. The diagram of the local and total Nusselt numbers and the coefficient of the pressure drop are plotted with respect to the position of the outlet port in order to realize the best configuration of the system. It is found that the pressure drop and total heat transfer rate in the cavity vary drastically depending on the Reynolds number and the position of the outlet port, and it is deduced that the case with the outlet port positioned on the right side of the bottom wall, for the cases with wide ports and the one with the outlet port located on the left wall for the cases with thin ports, are the best positions to obtain the best performance of the system.