This article was downloaded by: [University of Chicago Library]

On: 24 July 2013, At: 10:17

Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,
37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications: An

International Journal of Computation and Methodology
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/unht20

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF NATURAL CONVECTION WITH

SURFACE RADIATION IN A SQUARE ENCLOSURE
a a
M. Akiyama & Q. P. Chong
a
Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Utsunomiya
University, 2753 Ishii, Utsunomiya City, Tochigi, 321, Japan
Published online: 12 Mar 2007.

To cite this article: M. Akiyama & Q. P. Chong (1997) NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF NATURAL CONVECTION WITH SURFACE
RADIATION IN A SQUARE ENCLOSURE, Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications: An International Journal of Computation
and Methodology, 32:4, 419-433, DOI: 10.1080/10407789708913899

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10407789708913899

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the Content) contained in the
publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations
or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any
opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the
views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be
independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses,
actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever
caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic
reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any
form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://
www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF NATURAL
CONVECTION WITH SURFACE RADIATION
IN A SQUARE ENCLOSURE

M. Akiyama and Q. P. Chong

DepartmentofMechanical Systems Engineering, Faculty ofEngineering,
Utsunomiya University, 2753 Ishii; Utsunomiya City, Tochigi, 321 Japan
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

The inUrodion of naturoJ corw.ction wilh IMmud radiJJJUJn of gray srufaces in a square
endosure fiJJetl wilh air luis been IIIUIIerieaJly investigated. The .ffect of radiDlion on tJu
flow field, temperature distribulion, and hellI transf.r is predicted. The resuIl shows tJuIl
sruf= radiJJJUJn signijieanJJy a/Jered tlu temptral1JTt dislribulion and llu flow patterns,
especially at higlur RJlyleigh numbers. The av.rage corw.etion NusstlJ number increases
wilh llu increase of 1lIJ. The presence of srufac. radiJJJUJn can change 1M vahu of av~
corwtetion Nusse/J number, but only UttIe varilllion can be observed wilh llu increase of
emissivity. The av.rage radiDliv. Nuss./J number rises quiclcJy with llu increase of
.missivity, and radiJJJUJn hellI transfer plJJys an importantpart in ov.raIl hellIfba at larger
emissivity. The corn/alum of entire av~ Nuss./J number luis also been discussed for
.valuating hellI transfer through 1M enclDsun.

INTRODUCTION
Natural convection heat transfer in enclosures continues to receive consider-
able attention because of its importance in many practical applications. During the
past several decades, a number of experiments and numerical computations have
been presented for describing the phenomenon of natural convection in enclo-
sures. These studies aimed at clarifying the effect on flow and temperature regime
with variations of the shape of the enclosure (aspect ratio), the fluid properties
(Prandtl number), the occurrence of transition and turbulence (Rayleigh number),
and the correlation of Nu with Ra or Gr. However, thermal radiation always exists
and can strongly interact with convection in many situations of engineering
interest. The influence of radiation on natural convection is generally stronger than
that on forced convection because of the inherent coupling between the tempera-
ture and flow fields in natural convection.
The effect of radiative properties of participating gases has been examined in
several papers. Chang [1] considered square enclosures with partitions filled with
air, carbon dioxide, or ammonia gas. Radiative heat transfer was analyzed by the
radial flux method. Lauriat [2] treated the radiation part of the problem by using

Received 22 July 1996; accepted 6 May 1997.

Address correspondence to Professor Mitsonobu Akiyama, Department of Mechanical Systems
Engineering, Utsunomiya University, 2753 Ishii, Utsunomiya City, Tochigi, 321 Japan. E-mail:
akiyama@cc.utsunomiya.u.ac.jp

Numerical Heat Transter, Part A, 31:419-433, 1997

Copyright 1997 Taylor & Francis
1040-7782/97 $12.00 + .00 419
 420 M. AKIYAMA ET AL.

NOMENCLATURE
B dimensionlessemissive power X,Y dimensionlesscoordinates
[= (TITo)" (818 0 + 1)4) a heat transfer coefficient, W I(m' K)
d height and width of enclosure, m /3 coefficient of thermal expansion, 11K
Fj _ j view factor between segments i and j 'Yi emissivity ratio (= eJe)
g acceleration of gravity, mis' e average emissivity [= (lIn) E'_1 e,l
Gr Grashof number ] = g /3(TH - Tc)d 3 / y'] 8 dimensionless temperature
M number of segment on insulated wall 80 temperature ratio [= To/(TH - Tc)]
Nr conduction-radiation number A conductivity of fluid, W I(m K)
[= ueT~/A(TH - Tc)/d) y kinematic viscosity, m'ls
Nu average Nusselt number p density, kg/m 3
p pressure, Pa o: Stefan-Boltzmann constant, W I(m' K 4 )
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

P dimensionless pressure
Pr Prandtl number
q average heat flux of hot or cold wall, Subscripts
W/m'
Q, dimensionless net radiation heat flux c convection
T absolute temperature, K C cold
To reference temperature, K H hot
V,V dimensionless velocity components radiation

the P - 1 differential approximation, which has been considered a favorite radia-

tion model by many researchers. Yiicel [3] used the discrete ordinate method to
study combined natural convection and radiation heat transfer from a scattering
medium in a square. The interaction of laminar and turbulent natural convection
and radiation of nongray gas was performed by Fusegi [4]. The discrete exchange
factor (DEF) method was employed in evaluating the radiative exchange of similar
problems by Kassemi [5], who considered that DEF can provide accurate results
over a wide range of radiation parameters. Since the emission and absorption of a
radiative "gas block" depend on its shape, thickness, and partial pressure as well as
its temperature, the precise calculation of gas radiative heat exchange is compli-
cated. These efforts attempted to prove the approximate methods to be effective
for clarifying the influence of participating gas on convection, but less attention has
been paid to accurate calculation of surface radiation between nonblack surfaces.
Most gases and gas mixtures, such as 02' N2 , H 2 , dry air, etc., are transparent
to thermal radiation. For even stronger radiative gas, except at high pressure, the
radiation and absorption between gas blocks in enclosures are much weaker than
that of surface radiation. In addition, air convection is the most common phe-
nomenon, and surfaces in engineering are not ideally black. The clarification of
interaction of nonblack surface radiation and convection will be practical to many
scientific fields such as air convection in a room and air cooling systems of low heat
generating equipment. In this article, an abstract model has been numerically
analyzed for prediction of the influence of gray surface radiation on the convection
of nonparticipating radiation fluid.
 NATURAL CONVECflON IN A SQUARE ENCLOSURE 421

MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION
A square cavity with differentially heated walls is chosen for evaluating the
performance of natural convection with surface radiation. As shown in Figure 1,
two vertical side walls are maintained isothermal with T H (hot wall) and Tc (cold
wall), and other bounding walls are thermally insulated. The enclosure is filled with
air, and all walls are assumed to be gray diffuse emitters and reflectors of
radiation. For limiting the number of independent parameters, all physical proper-
ties are assumed constant with temperature except for the density used in the
buoyancy terms. In addition, the flow is steady, laminar, and two-dimensional.
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

Governing Equations
Convective heat transfer can be expressed mathematically by the equation of
conservation of mass, the Navier-Stokes equations, and the energy equation. With
above-mentioned assumptions, the equations can be written in dimensionless fonn
as follows:

au av
-+-=0 (1)
ax aY

(2)

av
u- av = a2v
ap + (- a2v)
ax + v- -2 + - -2 + Gr (J
- - (3)
aY aY ax ay

(4)

insulated

air
, To

1 9 d

x
insulated
d Figure I. Schematic representation of the
physical system.
 422 M. AKIYAMA ET AL

The dimensionless parameters are defined as follows:

x y ud vd
X=-
d
Y=-
d
u=-II v=-II
(5)
/}=
T-T0
TH - Tc
Here To = (T H + Tc) /2 is the reference temperature.

Boundary Conditions
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

Boundary conditions are stated as follows:

u=v=o X=o X=l Y=O Y=l (6)
/} = 0.5 X=O /}=-0.5 X=l
The thermal boundary condition on the insulated walls can be determined through
an energy balance between radiation and convection. In dimensionless form, it is
given by
a/}
-aY + NrQ r = 0 y=o Y=.l

Here Q r represents the dimensionless net radiative heat flux at the insulated walls.

Radiation Between Gray Surfaces

The temperature distribution on insulated walls depends on the heat ex-
change by both convection and surface radiation. In order to get the temperature
distribution on each insulated wall, Eq. (7) is applied to each subsurface formed by
making grids (see Figure 2):
a/}.
_ J Ii.X
aY J
+ Nr Q is.Ii.XJ = 0 (8)

, ,

IE-_,I .I~__ ~ x. I x Figure 2. Subsurfaces for radiation heat

x, b. x , 8.) exchange calculation.
 NATURAL CONVECfION IN A SQUARE ENCWSURE 423

The net radiative heat exchange between the subsurface li.Xj and other subsur-
faces is calculated by
NS s; -Bj
Q,jli.Xj = L. 1 - B'Ym B 1 - B'Yj
(9)
m=1
+ li.XmF +
'Ymli.Xm m_j 'Yjli.Xj

Here the sum NS( = M + 2) is taken for all other subsurfaces of the cavity subject
to whose view factor to the concerned subsurface does not equal zero. The view
factors Fm_j (between the segment li.Xj on the insulated wall and segment li.Xm
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

on the opposite wall), FL _ j (between the segment li.Xj and the left hot wall), and
FR _ j (between the segment li.Xj and right cold wall) are obtained from the
following equations, respectively:

(11)

FR _ j = 2"1{
li.Xj [
+ 1 + (1 - X j - li.Xj) 211/2 - [1 + (1 - X) 211/2} (12)

The view factors are constant for a fixed geometry and can be calculated before the
main iteration procedure. The dimensionless emissive power Bj is linearized as
follows:

(13)

where OJ. n -1 represents the value from the prior iteration and the subscript n
represents the new iteration.

Heat Transfer
To determine the steady state heat transfer characteristics at either of the
two vertical walls, contributions of both convection and radiation should be taken
into consideration. In the present study the total average Nusselt number is
introduced as

lie + li,
Nu = NU e + Nu, = ----,-----:-- (14)
A(TH - Tc)/d

Here, the denominator represents the pure conduction heat transfer through the
enclosure and lie and li, represent contributions of heat transfer by convection and
 424 M. AKIYAMA ET AI..

by radiation, respectively. The dimensionless form of the above equation can be

expressed as follows, which is used to calculate Nu at X = 0 and X = 1:

1 ao- dY + Nr1 Q dY
1
Nu = Nu, + NUr = 1o --ax 0
r
(15)

METHOD OF SOLUTION
The mass, momentum, and energy equations have been solved by a finite
difference algorithm called the semi-implicit method for pressure linked equations
(SIMPLE). Details of this method are described by Patankar [6]. The differential
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

equations are discretized over a control volume. The power law difference scheme
(PLDS) has been employed for the calculation of scalar variables and the quadratic
upstream-weighted interpolation for convective kinematics (QUICK) scheme for
vector variables.
The main procedure of the numerical simulation in this study is as follows.

1. Initial values such as velocities, pressure, and temperature are assumed.

2. Solve the energy equation, Eq. (4), for the temperature field.
3. The boundary equation, Eq. (7), is solved for updating the temperature
distribution on the insulated walls.
4. Equations (1)-(3) are solved to obtain the velocity field according to the
SIMPLE algorithm [6].
5. An entire new iteration is conducted by repeating steps 2-4. This proce-
dure is repeated until the convergence criterion is satisfied.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results are given in the form of streamline, isotherm contour plots, and
Nusselt numbers of hot and cold walls. Rayleigh number, temperature ratio 00' and
average emissivity 8 are applied as the main effective parameters. The properties
of air are mainly set at the reference temperature To = 293.5 K. Rayleigh numbers
range from 103 to 106 for keeping the flow regimes under the laminar boundary
layer flow. All surfaces of the enclosure are considered to be gray and with the
same emissivity (8; = 8, 'Y = 1), which varies from 8 = 0, which means there is no
radiation heat exchange between the surfaces, to 8 = 1.0, which means that
surfaces are assumed to be black, thereby absorbing all the emissive power they
contract and emitting the maximum emissive power over other surfaces at the same
temperature. The number of grids is set at 42 X 42, and the convergence criterion
is defined as

(16)

Here, r/J represents any dependent variable, the subscript n represents the new
results from the present iteration, and n - 1 represents that from the prior
iteration.
 NATURAL CONVECI10N IN A SQUARE ENCWSURE 425

Effects on Temperature and Flow Field

In order to demonstrate the effect of surface radiation on the flow fields, a
base case needs to be considered first. Here the temperature ratio is fixed at
60 = 29.35. The isotherm plots and velocity vectors of the flow for the nonradiating
case with different Ra are presented in Figure 3. In each case the fluid rises along
the hot wall and falls along the cold wall as expected. In the case of Ra = 104 , the
flow field shows a circulation, the distorted isotherms in the core region indicating
the dominance of convection. As Ra increases to 106 , along the isothermal walls,
the velocity of the flow increases, a stronger boundary layer occurs, and a larger
temperature gradient forms in the horizontal direction. The strong stratified flow
drives the heat across the cavity. The temperature and flow fields are centrosym-
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

metric, and the isotherms are always normal to the adiabatic walls.
The general effect of radiation on the flow fields can be obtained by setting
different emissivities of the surface. Figure 4 shows variations of temperature fields
and velocity vector plots with e = 0.5. Surface radiation alters the distribution of
the temperature on the insulated walls. The temperature rises at the bottom wall
and decreases at the top wall, resulting in variations of the flow and temperature
fields. The temperature gradients near the isothermal walls are relatively weak-
ened, and the thermal boundary layers thicken by surface radiation. Approximate
centrosymmetric contours can also be observed because the smaller temperature
difference between the two walls has been given. The effect of temperature
difference is discussed below.
The influence on the flow field and isotherms due to change of emissivity has
been predicted by setting e in the range 0.1-1.0. Streamlines at different e are
shown in Figure 5, and isotherms are shown in Figure 6 for Ra = 106 The
prediction indicates that the appearance of surface radiation can significantly alter
the flow and temperature fields even if the given emissivity is quite small, but there
are no remarkable changes with the increase of emissivity from 0.1 to 1.0. Surface
radiation changes the temperature distribution on the insulated walls, consequently
causing variation of the flow and temperature regime. When the steady condition is
reached, the distribution of the temperature on the insulated walls mainly depends
on the geometric parameter, i.e., the view factor of each subsurface on the
insulated walls to those .on other surfaces of the enclosure. The increase of
emissivity results in greater radiative heat exchange between surfaces.

Heat Transfer
The main purpose of this study is to clarify the effect of radiation on heat
transfer through the enclosure. The total average Nusselt number defined in Eq.
(14) includes contributions of both convection and radiation. It is calculated by Eq.
(15) for hot and cold walls.
Effects due to variation of Ra and emissivity. The general effect on
average convection Nusselt number due to changing Ra is shown in Figure 7a.
Heat transfer between the wall and air becomes stronger with the increase of Ra,
independent of the existence of radiation. The general influence on Nu, by surface
radiation can also be observed in this figure. At lower Ra, heat transfer between
 426 M. AKIYAMA ET AL.

...........................
.. .

.. , ....
.._ , ,,.
,,.~,,.

",
"",....... -
"" ..........- \

1Ii;l~mEmmm~mm!r'
i!! ~~~1~~~~~~~ ~~ ~i lJ1f
~:::::::::::::;::::::
\,. ..--""'11 I .
\n~::::.:.:.:::.:.:::::;::~::~~HI I'
\\, _- -- .. ' 11111'
. . . ~::~:~::~:::
i~~::.:.:.::......
: ..:::::.:::."""
H'.'.......
,....... ...,..'", .:.
: ::::::::::_--
:::::::::::::::
... :::::;::::
: :.:::.:.:.:::.:: ::::: ::::::::::: :::::::. ::::::
..
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

(0)

(b)

(cl

Figure 3. Predicted (left) isotherms and (right) velocity vectors due to variation of Ra.
To = 293.5 K; Ra = (0) 104 , (b) 10', (c) 106 ; e = 0; 60 = 29.35.

the wall and fluid mainly depends on conduction. Surface radiation alters the
distribution of temperature, makes the temperature gradient near the side wall
increase slightly, and strengthens conduction (compare Figure 30 with Figure 40).
With the increase of Ra, the thermal boundary near the side wall appears, and
convection plays an important role in heat transfer. Surface radiation relatively
 NATURAL CONVEcnON IN A SQUARE ENCLOSURE 427

..-
0
0

~~-------_ .
.. ""
:::'
" ..'" ...,
?"I'I'~-

"",
~H~~:;;:;...-
............ ,
::~~~~~~
;j'
., t ", ,."--_
1,"""...',-------
",,,
\\\

,,:::1 'l!l l::mmmil lil '

:l
.,
1 \,..... .."tj
\ \ \ "11
\,. " 0' "
~ ~ ~ ~~::~:.:.::::::;;:;;~~: ~ I
,~~~::.:::::~::- ... --_::::::~~~~I
".................. ""'''''''1
H~n ;~~~:.. ::~~~~~
..... -----
::::: ~~~~~~~~~::::.:::::::::::::
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 4. Effect of surface radiation on (left) isotherms and (right) flow fields. To - 293.5 K;
Ra = (a) 104, (b) 105 , (c) 106 ; e - 0.5; 90 - 29.35.

weakens the temperature gradient of the thermal boundary near the side walls
(compare Figures 3c and 3e with Figures 4c and 4e) and results in a decrease of
the fraction of heat transfer by convection at higher Ra.
Effect on radiative Nusselt number due to variation of emissivity is shown in
Figure 7b. As expected, Nu, increases rapidly with the increase of emissivity. This
 428 M. AKIYAMA ET AL.
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 5. Effect of emissivity on streamlines (To = 293.5 K, Ra = 106 , 80 = 29.35) at (a)

8 = 0, (b) 8 = 0.1, (c) B = 0.5, and (d) 8 = 1.0.

indicates that surface radiation plays an important part in heat transfer through
the enclosure, especially at higher emissivities. The effects of emissivity on convec-
tive Nusselt number are shown in Figures 7c and 7d for Ra = 104 and Ra = 105,
respectively. As mentioned above, surface radiation strengthens conduction but
relatively weakens the thermal boundary near the side walls. When Ra = 10\ heat
moves by both conduction and convection modes. The appearance of radiation
raises Nu, slightly but decreases it with further increase of emissivity. Convection
becomes the dominant mode with the increase of Ra. Radiation weakens the
temperature gradient near the walls, so Nu, becomes smaller at higher Ra. Note
that Nu, on the cold wall is larger than that on the hot wall. This is discussed
below.
Heat transfer correlation. The Nusselt number correlation for natural
convection can be concluded as Nu, = !(GrPr) because these dimensionless pa-
rameters can establish a complete dynamic similarity [7). Thus if geometrically
similar systems have the same Pr and Gr, the temperature distribution and velocity
fields will be similar and Nu, values will be equal. In the case of the interaction of
convection and thermal radiation, the overall Nusselt number Nu should be a
 NATURAL CONVECfION IN A SQUARE ENCLOSURE 429
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

(0) (b)

(c) (d)
6
Figure 6. Effect of emissivity on isotherms (To = 293.5 K, Ra = 10 , 80 = 29.35) at (0)
e = 0, (b) e = 0.1, (c) e = 0.5, and (d) e = 1.0.

function of Ra and other parameters pertaining to radiation. In the present study

the conduction-radiation number Nr introduced in Eq. (7) has not been used as the
parameter related to surface radiation because there is no relationship of similarity
between Nu and Nr. The flow field and Nu depend not only on the value of Ra or
Nr but also on the parameters included in the definition formula of Ra, such as
temperature difference I1T and space length d. In addition, Nr cannot be freely
given because its value is not independent of Ra. This problem also appeared in
the case of gas-surface radiation.
The correlation of Nu for natural convection with surface radiation can be
expressed as a function of Ra and e:

Nu = f(Ra, e) (17)

Note this equation can only be correlated based on either a fixed temperature ratio
or a fixed enclosure length. So a series of equations for different 00 or different d
have to be developed for practical application. As an attempt, based on the results
of setting the temperature ratio 00 = 293.5 and e and Ra in the ranges 0.02 .;; e .;; 1
 430 M. AKIYAMA ET AL

Nuc Nu,

10 16
6---=0
--- =1 12
7.5

8
5

4
2.5
0
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

o loS 10" lOS 105 Ra

(a) (b)

Nuc Nuc

--
2.35 4.8
hot wall -- hot wall
-<>- cold wall
4.6

Ra=10'
Ra=lOS

2.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 e 4 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

(0) (d)

Figure 7. Effect on Nusselt number by changing Ra and emissivity (To = 293.5 K,

90 = 29.35). (a) Convective Nusselt number (s = 0,1; Ra = 103_106 ) . (b) Radiative Nusselt
number (s = 0-1; Ra = 10" 10', 106 ) . (c) Convective Nusselt number at the hot and cold
walls (s = 0-1, Ra = 104 ) . (d) Convective Nusselt number at the hot and cold walls
(s = 0-1, Ra = 10').

and 10' ~ Ra ~ 106 , the correlation equation obtained by employing the least
squares technique is

Nu = 0.S29Rao.3065eO.3497 (18)

with an average deviation of 7.32% and maximum deviation of 14.82% to the

numerical results.
Effect of temperature ratio. The results based on Ra = 7.1 x 104 , To =
417 K are given in Figure 8 and Table 1. In the natural convection case (e = 0) the
isotherms and the value of Nu, do not change (only tiny calculation errors can be
 NATURAL CONVECI10N IN A SQUARE ENCWSURE 431
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 8. Effect on isotherms by changing liT and e (To = 417 K, Ra = 7.1 X 104 ) . (a)
liT =10 K, e 0; (b) liT = 10 K, ,,= 1; (c) liT = 260 K, e 0; and (d) liT = 260 K,
e = 1.

seen) in spite of the variation of temperature ratio. However, in the case of

radiation (here e = 1) the variation of 60 alters the temperature regime and
changes the value of Nu, and Nu, at hot and cold walls. As Ra and To are fixed,
the variation of temperature ratio actually implies the change of temperature
difference, and consequently, the space length d has to vary accordingly. As

Table 1. Effect on Nusselt number of changing the temperature ratio

Nu (hot wall) Nu (cold wall)

60 sr, K d,m e NU e Nu, Nu NU e Nu, Nu

41.7 10 0.264 0.0 4.150 0 4.150 4.149 0 4.149

1.0 3.861 11.22 15.08 3.911 11.16 15.07
1.6 260 0.0897 0.0 4.146 0 4.146 4.143 0 4.143
1.0 3.471 4.481 7.952 4.239 3.698 7.937
 432 M. AKIYAMA ET AL.

radiative energy is proportional to the fourth power of absolute temperature, with

the increase of Ii T, the radiative heat exchange between the hot wall and the
insulated (top and bottom) walls becomes stronger than that between the cold and
insulated walls, so Nu, at the hot wall is greater than that at the cold wall. On the
other hand, the centrosymmetry of isotherms disappears, and the temperature
gradients are weakened near the hot wall but strengthened near the cold wall.
Thus Nu, decreases at the hot wall but increases at the cold wall. As steady state is
considered, in each case, the total average Nusselt numbers on the hot wall should
be equal to those on the cold wall to keep the energy through the enclosure in
balance. The deviation of Nu between the two walls can be used to evaluate the
accuracy of the results or whether the method adopted is applicable.
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013

CONCLUSIONS
The interaction of natural convection with thermal radiation by gray surfaces
in a square enclosure filled with air has been numerically investigated. The
appearance of surface radiation varies the temperature distribution on insulated
walls so that the temperature and the flow field in the enclosure are altered. The
thermal boundaries near the side walls are relatively weakened by surface radia-
tion, but no remarkable difference has appeared with the increase of emissivity
under a certain Ra.
Heat transfers through the enclosure by both convection and radiation. The
average convection Nusselt number increases with the increase of Ra, independent
of the existence of surface radiation. The presence of surface radiation can change
the average convection Nusselt number, but only little variation occurs with the
increase of emissivity. The value of average radiative Nusselt number rises quickly
with the increase of emissivity.
In the case of natural convection with radiation, there is no relationship of
dynamic similarity between the overall Nusselt number Nu and Nr. To apply Nr as
the dimensionless parameter concerned with radiation is superfluous, although Nr
has appeared in dimensionless equations. The value of Nu depends not only on the
value of Ra, but also the dimensional variables included in the definition equation
of Ra, such as temperature difference and enclosure length. This means that we
have not established a complete dimensionless dynamic similarity system for
natural convection with surface and gas radiation.
With the increase of liT, Nu, and Nu, of both the hot and cold walls are
changed. In each case the total average Nusselt number on the hot wall is
approximately equal to that on the cold wall, which indicates the calculation is
reasonable. In addition, this method can be easily extended to the rectangular
enclosure with different aspect ratio and with different emissive surfaces.

REFERENCES
1. L. C. Chang, K. T. Yang, and J. R. Lloyd, Radiation-Natural Convection Interaction in
Two-Dimensional Complex Enclosures, J. Heat Transfer, vol. 105, p. 89, 1983.
2. G. Lauriat, Combined Radiation-Convection in Gray Fluids Enclosed in Vertical Cavi-
ties, J. Heat Transfer, vol. 104, p. 609, 1982.
 NATURAL CONVECfION IN A SQUARE ENCLOSURE 433

3. A. Yiicel, S. Acharya, and M. L. Williams, Natural Convection and Radiation in a Square

Enclosure, Numer. Heat Transfer, Part A, vol. 15, pp. 261-278, 1989.
4. T. Fusegi and B. Farouk, Laminar and Turbulent Natural Convection-Radiation Interac-
tions in a Square Enclosure Filled with a Nongray Gas, Numer. Heat Transfer, Part A, vol.
15, pp. 303-322, 1989.
5. M. Kassemi and M. H. N. Naraghi, Analysis of Radiation-Natural Convection Interac-
tions in 1-g and Low-g Environments Using the Discrete Exchange Factor Method, Int. J.
Heat Mass Transfer, vol. 36, no. 17, pp. 4141-4149,1994.
6. S. V. Patankar, Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Hemisphere, Washington, D.C.,
1980.
7. F. Kreith, Principles of Heat Transfer, chap. 7, International Textbook Company, Scran-
ton, Pa., 1958.
Downloaded by [University of Chicago Library] at 10:17 24 July 2013