This paper presents a computational procedure and results of a numerical quest for the shape of a special kind of differentially heated air-filled enclosure. The enclosure shape is such that the natural-convection flow in the enclosure gives rise to a uniform horizontal-heat-flux distribution at the isothermal hot and cold walls. By using an evolution algorithm, the isothermal walls are “consumed” according to the heat-flux distribution until a steady-state shape is reached. For both adiabatic and perfectly conducting horizontal walls, results of calculations are presented for Rayleigh numbers up to 8 × 104. The resulting flow and temperature distributions in the steady-state enclosures are presented and discussed.

Issue Section:
Natural Convection
Keywords:
Enclosure Flows, Natural Convection
Topics:
Flow (Dynamics), Natural convection, Shapes, Steady state, Evolutionary algorithms, Heat, Heat flux, Rayleigh number, Temperature distribution
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