Natural convection in rectangular enclosures heated from one side and cooled from the ceiling

Steady natural convection of air in a two-dimensional enclosure isothermall y heated from one side and cooled from the ceiling is analyzed numerically using a stream function-vorticity formulation. Based on numerical predictio ns, the effects of Rayleigh number and aspect ratio on flow pattern and ene rgy transport are investigated for Rayleigh numbers ranging from 10(3) to 1 0(7), and for five different aspect ratios of 0.25, 0.50, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0. the effect of Rayleigh number on heat transfer is found to be more signifi cant when the enclosure is shallow (a(r) > 1) and the influence of aspect r atio is stronger when the enclosure is tall and the Rayleigh number is high . (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.