Combined Conduction and Radiation in a Rectangular Enclosure Containing a Participating Medium
K. Karthikeyan, C. Balaji and S.P. Venkateshan
The interaction of conduction and radiation in a two dimensional rectangular enclosure with the medium having uniform absorbing and emitting properties is considered. The formulation is based on the finite volume method wherein the solution of radiant exchange is added to the solver for the energy equation. Both the temperature distribution and heat transfer rates at the gray walls of the rectangular enclosure are predicted within the limits of numerical accuracy. The observation of the presence of thermal boundary layer near the hot and cold walls and thermal stratification in the centre of the rectangular domain with a participating medium is an important outcome of this study. This phenomenon is more pronounced for the case of walls with lower emissivity and higher radiation-conduction interaction parameter. Correlations are presented for predicting total heat transfer rate and contribution by radiation and conduction for two cases, namely, (i) a rectangular enclosure with one hot wall and three cold walls and (ii) a rectangular enclosure with hot and cold sidewalls and top and bottom adiabatic walls.