Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Unsteady Natural Convection in a Vertical Open-Ended Channel

Numerical and experimental investigations have been carried out to study the unsteady behavior of natural convective flows in a vertical conduit heated from one side. It is shown that typical dynamics of large-scale structures in the flow and thermal fields of natural convection in open vertical channels are successfully modeled numerically by the use of the large-eddy algorithm. Furthermore, fluctuations in both the velocity and temperature fields are also captured, providing valuable insights into the instantaneous flow dynamics occurring within the channel. A comparison between numerical and experimental results indicates that the presence of external disturbances plays a significant role in the evolution of the dynamic behavior of natural convective flows within the channel. Additionally, it is demonstrated that a proper characterization of the disturbance level in the ambient is necessary to bring the numerical and experimental results into close agreement.