Mixed convection effect on heat and mass transfer within a ‘M’ shaped closed enclosure with a heater at the bottom wall

Abstract

This article deals with a numerical study of two-dimensional mixed convection heat and mass transfer within an enclosure using finite element method. The key factors for mixed convection are the Grashof number (Gr), Richardson number (Ri), and Reynolds number (Re), which are used to derive various fluid and heat transport properties inside the cavity. A simple change is employed to transfer the governing equations into a dimensionless form. Comparison with the previously published work is made and found to be an excellent agreement. The study is performed with different buoyancy ratio number and the effect of aforesaid parameters (Reynolds number, Re (=100), Lewis number, Le (= 0.1), buoyancy ratio, Br (=10,15,20) and Richardson number, Ri (= 1) for Prandtl number Pr (=0.71 and 1)) on the flow and temperature fields as well as the heat and mass transfer rate examined. The results show that the increase of buoyancy ratio enhances the heat and mass transfer rate.