Buoyancy-induced heat and momentum transfer in a sidewall-heated square cavity partially divided by an active vertical partition

A theoretical analysis of steady laminar natural convection in air-filled, square enclosures with differently heated sidewalls and adiabatic endwalls, partially divided by a single isothermal vertical plate located in the interior of the cavity, is presented. A numerical model based on the SIMPLE algorithm has been used for the solution of the mass, momentum and energy transfer governing equations. Simulations have been performed for several values of the Rayleigh number of the enclosure, as well as for different temperatures, sizes and locations of the divider, whose influence upon the flow structure type, the local temperature distribution and the heat transfer rates are analyzed and discussed. In particular, it is found that the presence of the thermally active divider may result in either an increase or a decrease in the heat transfer rate at each sidewall with respect to the more traditional case of non-partitioned enclosure. A dimensionless correlation equation for the heat transfer rate at the sidewalls of the enclosure is also proposed.