Journal of Enhanced Heat Transfer

DOI: 10.1615/JEnhHeatTransf.v10.i2.80

 download article 225-242 pages

Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Differentially Heated Square Cavity in Presence of an Electric Field—A Finite Element Analysis

Asish Bandyopadhyay
Mechanical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700 032, India

Swarnendu Sen
Mechanical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700 032, India

Amitava Sarkar
Mechanical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700 032, India

Souvik Bhattacharya
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India

ABSTRACT

The effect of electric field on natural convection in a differentially heated square cavity has been numerically investigated in the present work. The changes in flow field and isotherm patterns stemming from the presence of an electric field have been extensively studied. The heat transfer augmentation caused by the electric field is found to be more significant at an intermediate Rayleigh number. This augmentation is realized only above a critical value of the applied voltage. Scope and limitation of the code, developed specifically for the present work, has also been addressed.