Thermogravitational Convective Flow Inside a Cavity with a Heated Circular Cylinder: A Finite Difference Analysis via Vorticity Stream Function Approach

Current numerical investigation reveals the natural convective flow and heat transfer features within the cavity containing a hot obstruction. The enclosure’s vertical walls are considered cold, and the horizontal walls are considered adiabatic. The present computational model comprises the mass, flow, and heat transfer equations with suitable boundary conditions. The system of equations is dimensionalized by utilizing the suitable nondimensional quantities. The pressure elimination technique is adopted and solved the resulting partial differential equations through vorticity-stream function approach. The features of transport phenomena within the cavity are analyzed with different thermal buoyancy parameter (i.e., Rayleigh number (Ra)) values. The graphical outcomes of the dissimilar values of Rayleigh numbers are discussed in detail.