Effet du maximum de densité sur la convection libre de l'eau dans une cavité fermée

Abstract

One of the most important factors affecting the rate of heat transfer by natural convection is the temperature–density relationship of the convecting fluid. The importance of this factor is greatly amplified when the heat is being transferred to a medium that has a maximum density at a given temperature. Water at low temperatures offers such a behavior, its density attaining a maximum value near 3.98 °C. thereafter decreasing with decreasing temperature. This phenomenon is responsible for unusual flow patterns in areas of water exposed to near freezing temperatures.This investigation is a theoretical analysis of the transient natural convection of water contained in a square enclosure with constant wall temperature. Initially the water is assumed to be at a uniform temperature above 0 °C, the wall temperature being suddenly applied.An alternating direction implicit finite-difference schema was used to solve the coupled system of partial differential equations. The transient flow and temperature fields, and local and overall heat transfer are greatly affected by the inversion of flow patterns caused by the maximum density. Their respective values for different flow situations are presented in this study.