THE EFFECT OF THE INVERSION TEMPERATURE ON THE CONVECTION OF WATER IN AN ENCLOSED RECTANGULAR CAVITY

Abstract

The steady two-dimensional laminar natural convection of water in an enclosed rectangular cavity is investigated in this paper at temperatures in the neighbourhood of the inversion temperature. Solutions of the governing equations are obtained numerically and the results obtained are presented graphically in the form of stream-function and isotherm contour plots. The flow thus described may be expected to occur in practice, but it cannot be predicted using the conventional model for natural convection which employs the Boussinesq approximation.