Analysis of Combined Effect of Buoyancy and Inertia in a Channel with an Open Cavity

The combined effect of buoyancy andinertia is investigated numerically and experimentally in open cavity in the present study. The heated wall is the horizontal surface of the cavity means heated from below. The combined effect of buoyancy and inertia force on convection performance and flow pattern inside the cavity is analyzed with finite volume method.Mixed convection fluid flow and heat transfer within the cavity is governed by the buoyancy parameter, Richardson number (Ri), and Reynolds number (Re).CFD analysis is done for various Reynolds number keeping heat flux constant. Modeling of geometry and meshing is done in ICEM-CFD. Tetrahedral mesh is used for meshing. Variation in velocity like 1m/s,2m/s up to 5m/s made to observe flow pattern. For high velocity or high Reynolds number more vortex generation and hence momentum occurs in cavity. Also due to buoyancy effect, natural convection current is occurred inside the cavity.At large Grashof number, buoyancy effect is more inside the cavity. Due to this, natural convention current produced is effective. Due to large Grashof number, buoyancy effect is dominating and at high Reynolds number, inertia effect is dominating.Experimentation is carried for keeping constant heat flux values of 1000W/m2,2000W/m2and 3000W/m2for velocity 0.5m/s,1m/s and 1.5 m/s to see the effect of buoyancy and inertia effect upon heat transfer inside the cavity