Effect of Fin Length and Location on Natural Convection Heat Transfer in a Wavy Cavity

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze the natural convection flow and heat transfer in a wavy cavity with a single horizontal fin attached to its hot wall. Galerkin weighted residual finite element technique has been employed to solve the governing nonlinear dimensionless equations. The effects of model parameters like Rayleigh number, fin length and location on the fluid flow and heat transfer are investigated. The obtained results are exhibited graphically in terms of flow structure, temperature dispersion, velocity field, fin effectiveness, local Nusselt number, and average Nusselt number. It is observed that the different fin length and location have a substantial effect on flow structure and temperature field. Fin effectiveness is also studied and the highest fin effectiveness was found at fin length (L = 0.75). Besides, it is also found that the mean Nusselt number increases significantly with the increase of Rayleigh number and fin length. Wavy cavity becomes more effective on heat transfer behaviors and fluid flow than that of a square cavity.