Convective heat transfer enhancement: effect of multi-frequency heating
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
ISSN: 0961-5539
Article publication date: 25 June 2019
Issue publication date: 17 October 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to enhance natural convection heat transfer for a porous thermal cavity. Multi-frequency sinusoidal heating is applied at the bottom of a porous square cavity, considering top wall adiabatic and cooling through the sidewalls. The different frequencies, amplitudes and phase angles of sinusoidal heating are investigated to understand their major impacts on the heat transfer characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
The finite volume method is used to solve the governing equations in a two-dimensional cavity, considering incompressible laminar flow, Boussinesq approximation and Brinkman–Forchheimer–Darcy model. The mean-temperature constraint is applied for enhancement analysis.
Findings
The multi-frequency heating can markedly enhance natural convection heat transfer even in the presence of porous medium (enhancement up to ∼74 per cent). Only the positive phase angle offers heat transfer enhancement consistently in all frequencies (studied).
Research limitations/implications
The present research idea can usefully be extended to other multi-physical areas (nanofluids, magneto-hydrodynamics, etc.).
Practical implications
The findings are useful for devices working on natural convection.
Originality/value
The enhancement using multi-frequency heating is estimated under different parametric conditions. The effect of different frequencies of sinusoidal heating, along with the uniform heating, is collectively discussed from the fundamental point of view using the average and local Nusselt number, thermal and hydrodynamic boundary layers and heatlines.
Keywords
Citation
Manna, N.K., Biswas, N. and Mahapatra, P.S. (2019), "Convective heat transfer enhancement: effect of multi-frequency heating", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 29 No. 10, pp. 3822-3856. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-07-2018-0414
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited