Natural Convection in a Rocking Square Enclosure: Experimental Results

Abstract

Experimental results for the natural convection in a rocking enclosure are presented. A square closed cavity heated from below and cooled from above periodically turns around of its horizontal symmetry central line. The oscillation amplitude was from −15 deg to 15 deg, and four time periods were employed (30 min, 60 min, 90 min, and 120 min) for three established Rayleigh numbers (3×104, 6×104, and 1×105). High purity glycerin was used as the working fluid, and particle image velocimetry (PIV) was employed to obtain the velocity fields. The obtained flow patterns have a strong dependence on the Rayleigh number.