Heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of laminar flow past an open cavity with heating from below

Abstract Laminar mixed convective flow over a three-dimensional open cavity with heating from below at constant temperature was numerically simulated using direct numerical simulation and the most hydrodynamic and thermal aspects of the flow are presented. The effects over the velocity and temperature distribution of the buoyancy forces acting perpendicular to the mainstream flow are studied for a range of Reynolds numbers between 100 and 1500, and Richardson numbers from 0.001 to 10 to obtain a phenomenological description of the convective air flowing through the channel and the cavity. At low Reynolds and Richardson numbers the flow becomes steady and the heat diffusion is predominant, whereas at high Richardson number the heat transfer by convection becomes important and the flow experiences unsteady behavior with a significant interaction between the external flow and the recirculating flow inside the cavity, and exhibits a three-dimensional nature.