Exploring Heat Transfer and Entropy Generation in a Dual Cavity System

Abstract

This study investigates heat transfer and entropy generation in a dual-cavity system filled with air, focusing on the effects of uniform and nonuniform heating conditions on natural convection. The system features heated left walls, cooled right walls, and insulated remaining walls, presenting a novel approach to thermal management. This research employs COMSOL Multiphysics and finite element method to study the interplay between Rayleigh numbers (${10}^3\le \mathrm{Ra}\le {10}^6$) and heat transfer efficiency, focusing on thermal patterns and irreversibility. The findings indicate that as Ra increases, convective heat transfer improves significantly, with the average Nusselt number rising from 15.23 at Ra = 10³ to 74.61 at Ra = 10⁶ under uniform heating conditions. However, this improvement comes at the cost of increased entropy generation, which escalates from 2.91 to 307.74, highlighting a trade-off between enhanced heat transfer and greater irreversibility. These results underscore the need to optimize Ra values to achieve a balance between thermal efficiency and entropy generation. The insights gained from this study have practical implications for designing energy-efficient cooling systems in electronics and microfluidic devices, as well as for architectural designs targeting improved thermal management.