Cooperating thermosolutal convection in enclosures .2. Heat transfer and flow structure

This paper reports the numerical simulations of double diffusive natural convection flows in a binary fluid contained in a two-dimensional enclosure, with imposed horizontal temperature and concentration differences between the vertical walls. The analysis concerns the influence of the different parameters governing the problem in the heat transfer characteristics and on the flow structure. The study is focused on steady-state solutions in the cooperating situation. At high Lewis numbers, numerical simulations show that heat transfer decreases with increasing buoyancy ratios. This phenomenon is analysed on the basis of the flow structure, and a scale analysis is provided to estimate the decrease in heat transfer. Then, the influence of the parameters on the formation of a multicellular flow structure is discussed. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.