Heat transfer enhancement by irregular acoustic streaming in a shallow enclosure

Abstract

The effects of classical and irregular acoustic streaming structures on convective heat transport in air-filled two dimensional rectangular enclosures are investigated numerically. The oscillatory fluid motion and the resulting streaming motion are driven by cyclic vibration of the enclosure left wall. The fully compressible form of the Navier- Stokes equations are employed to model the transport phenomenon in the enclosure. An explicit time-marching Flux-Corrected Transport (FCT) Algorithm is used to simulate the oscillatory flow field, streaming patterns and associated thermal convection in the enclosure. The vertical walls of enclosure are thermally insulated. The bottom wall is heated isothermally while the top wall is kept at the initial temperature. The transverse temperature gradients strongly affect the acoustic streaming velocities and structures. The irregular streaming significantly augments the heat transfer from the enclosure bottom wall.