A HEAT FUNCTION FORMULATION FOR THERMAL-CONVECTION IN A SQUARE CAVITY

A two-dimensional heat function formulation to study the net energy distribution pattern in the field of laminar natural convection within a square cavity, differentially-heated in the vertical direction, is presented. Of particular interest is the response of the net energy trajectories to changes in the Rayleigh number as its value increases from the sub-critical, through the threshold, to the post-critical values for the Benard-type configuration. Numerical computations indicate that as the Rayleigh number increases in the order stated above, the heatline patterns exhibit apparently centrosymmetric characteristics about the vertical mid-section of the enclosure.