Optimal shape for laminar natural convective cavities containing air and heated from the side

An examination of the literature on thermofluid dynamics reveals that the s hape optimization of natural convective cavities has not been examined so f ar, and of course, its features are not understood. In this paper, design o ptimization software is coupled with software on computational fluid dynami cs with heat transfer to perform a shape optimization of the cross-section of a 2-D natural convective cavity containing air. An optimization process has been implemented in two parts; the first part minimizes the area (volum e) of a pre-selected cavity, whereas the second part diminishes the maximum temperature of the hot vertical wall, a critical design constraint. (C) 19 99 Elsevier Science Ltd.