Laminar natural convection flow in a square enclosure having thick conducti
ng walls has been analysed numerically. Enclosing walls are considered to h
ave finite conductive properties. Problem has been analysed using control v
olume approach and employing ghost nodes at the solid fluid interface. Outs
ides of the walls are kept at constant temperature. Square cavity is assume
d to be filled with a Bousinessq fluid with a Prandtl number of 7.0 contain
ing uniform volumetric sources. Rayleigh number is varied from 10(7) to 10(
12). For special cases, benchmark results compare very well with the result
s from open literature. Isotherms, streamlines and wall Nusselt numbers are
obtained and scrutinised. Results show a significant change in the buoyant
flow parameters as compared to conventional non-conjugate investigations.
Especially, it has been shown that walls having high thermal diffusivity ar
e much better suited, if the cooling of the enclosed fluid is intended. (C)
2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.