Low-Prandtl number natural convection in volumetrically heated rectangular enclosures. I: Slender cavity, \(AR=4\) (Q1579318)

This paper deals with a computational study of low-Prandtl number free convection in a volumetrically heated rectangular enclosure of aspect ratio 4, having adiabatic top and bottom walls and isothermal side walls. Direct numerical two-dimensional simulations are performed by a finite volume method for Grashof numbers ranging from 3.79 \(10^4\) to 1.26 \(10^9 \). According to the value of Grashof number Gr, different flow regimes were depicted: steady-state, periodic, and chaotic. This suggest that, as Gr increases, the flow undergoes first a Hopf bifurcation, leading to a periodic regime, and then undergoes a transition to chaos. The periodic regime exists only in a narrow range of Gr. Periodic solutions are obtained for \(Gr= 3.79 10^5\) and \(7.03 10^5\), respectively. It is shown that in this range, the initial instability of the base flow is due to the growth of an antisymmetric velocity disturbance propagating downwards as a traveling wave and having a dimensionless wavenumber of about one and a dimensionless speed of about 0.2. Some other flow regimes are also described for high values of Gr. The authors point out that the present two-dimensional simulations leave unanswered the question about the flow stability under three-dimensional disturbances. The authors also mention that a better understanding of the influence of aspect ratio and Prandtl number of flow regimes and transitions would be highly desirable.