Computation of combined natural-convection and radiation heat-transfer in a cavity having a square body at its center

This paper describes a numerical study of the radiation-natural convection interactions in a differentially-heated cavity with an inner body. A specifically developed numerical model, based on the finite-volume method, is used for the solutions of the governing differential-equations. The SIMPLER algorithm for the pressure–velocity coupling is adopted. The fluid (air) is perfectly transparent to the radiation. The surface emissivity ε, the Rayleigh number Ra, and the thermal conductivity ratio Rk were varied parametrically. For Pr = 0.71 and relatively wide ranges of the other parameters, results are reported in terms of isotherms, streamlines, average Nusselt-numbers across the enclosure, local Nusselt-numbers at the hot and cold walls, vertical and horizontal median velocities and horizontal walls, temperature distributions. It is found that: (i) the radiation exchange homogenizes the temperature inside the cavity and produces an increase in the average Nusselt-number, particularly when Rk and Ra are high and (ii) the average Nusselt-number increases with increasing surface emissivity, especially at high Rayleigh numbers.