LAMINAR NATURAL-CONVECTION FLOW IN TRAPEZOIDAL ENCLOSURES

Results are presented of a numerical study on the laminar natural convection flow of air in differentially heated, trapezoidal enclosures. Special attention is given to the applied solution method, using a coordinate-invariant formulation of the transport equations. For Rayleigh numbers between 10(4) and 10(8), results are presented for inclination angles of the isothermal walls from -45 degrees (trapezoidal enclosure) to 0 degrees (square enclosure). The influence of the inclination angle on the flow and Nusselt number is discussed. Flow patterns and isotherms are shown to give greater understanding of the local heat transfer. The dependence of the averaged Nusselt number on the Rayleigh number is studied.