Effect of Driven Sidewalls on Mixed Convection in an Open Trapezoidal Cavity With a Channel

Abstract

The mixed convection in an open trapezoidal lid-driven cavity connected with a channel is investigated in the present paper. Four different cases were considered depending on the movement of the cavity sidewalls. For case I, the left sidewall moves downward; for case II, the left sidewall moves downward and the right one moves upward; while for case III, only the right sidewall moves upward. A comparative case (case 0) is accounted when both sidewalls are assumed stationary. The base of the cavity is subjected to a localized heat source of constant temperature Th. The effects of Richardson number Ri and Reynolds number ratio Rer on the flow and thermal fields have been investigated. The results indicated that for cases I and II, the average Nusselt number increases with the increase of the Richardson number and Reynolds number ratio. Moreover, it was found that the maximum average Nusselt number occurs with case I. When the lid-driven speed is three times that of the inlet airflow velocity, the augmentations of the average Nusselt number compared with stationary walls are 163%, 158%, and 96% for cases I, II, and III, respectively.