Energy Conservative Dissipative Particle Dynamics Simulation of Natural Convection in Liquids

Abstract

Dissipative particle dynamics with energy conservation (eDPD) was used to study natural convection in liquid domain over a wide range of Rayleigh Numbers. The problem selected for this study was the Rayleigh–Bénard convection problem. The Prandtl number used resembles water where the Prandtl number is set to Pr = 6.57. The eDPD results were compared to the finite volume solutions, and it was found that the eDPD method calculates the temperature and flow fields throughout the natural convection domains correctly. The eDPD model recovered the basic features of natural convection, such as development of plumes, development of thermal boundary layers, and development of natural convection circulation cells (rolls). The eDPD results were presented by means of temperature isotherms, streamlines, velocity contours, velocity vector plots, and temperature and velocity profiles.