Analysis of Forced Convection on an Incompressible Fluid Flow in a Rectangular Enclosure

A numerical analysis of convective heat transfer in a three-dimensional rectangular enclosure is presented in the manuscript, with uniform heat flux from middle of the floor, a centrally placed fan at the ceiling and ventilation holes at the upper parts on the opposite vertical walls. The temperature and velocity profiles as a result of forced convection was investigated. The fluid flow under consideration was assumed to be incompressible, Newtonian and steady.The fan was set to rotate at constant speed. To analyze the flow and heat transfer rates, a complete set of non-dimensionalzed equations governing Newtonian fluid flow with boundary conditions were discretized using the Three-point Central Difference Approximations for a uniform mesh. MATLAB simulation software was used to solve the resulting finite difference equations. The velocity profiles and temperature distributions in a room were shown in tables and graphs for various Reynolds and Richardson numbers and at a constant Prandtl number of 0.71.It was discovered that as the Reynolds number rises, the velocity rises due to increasing inertial forces in comparison to viscous forces.It was also discovered that as the Reynolds number rises, the temperature rises as well. The data also reveal that when the Richardson number increases, the velocity decreases due to the low buoyancy effect at low Richardson numbers. It was also clear that the fan greatly enhances the fluid velocity but lowers the temperature in the enclosure.