Numerical Simulation of Natural Convection in Two- and Three-Dimensional Vertical Slots With Two Heat Source Elements(2001)

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This study uses numerical methods to investigate natural convection of air-cooling of two heat-generating devices in two- and three-dimensional upright open top slots. Two and three-dimensional vorticity-stream functions are solved using Alternating Direction Implicit(ADI) method to investigate the effects of the Rayleigh number and the separation distance between heat sources on natural convection. Numerical results indicate that the natural convection effect is improved and the thermal boundary layer becomes thinner as the Rayleigh number is increased in a two-dimensional model. Also, under a fixed Rayleigh number condition, the changes of the distance between the two heat sources only affects the temperature of the first heat source but not the thermal boundary layer. Comparisons of two- and three-dimensional results indicate that the temperature distribution along the wall containing two heat sources of the three-dimensional slot is higher than that of the two-dimensional slot under fixed Rayleigh number, heat source spacing, and heat flux conditions. This is due to the three-dimensional effect that allows more space for heated air to stay in the slot. The comparison also shows that the heat transfer effect may be overestimated in a two-dimensional simulation. In the three-dimensional calculation, the changes of the distance between the two heat sources with a fixed Rayleigh number show results similar to that of the two-dimensional calculation, however, the thermal boundary layer becomes thicker as the distance between the two heat sources in increased.