Natural convection and surface thermal radiation in a tilted open shallow cavity

In this paper the numerical calculations of heat transfer by natural convection and surface radiation in a tilted open shallow cavity are presented. The cavity maintains the opposite wall to the aperture at a constant temperature while the remaining walls are adiabatic. The results in the steady state are obtained for a Rayleigh number range from 105 to 107, inclination angles from 45± to 135± and aspect ratios equal to 2 and 4. It was found that the exchange of thermal radiation between walls is considerably more relevant that the convective phenomenon for an inclination angle of 135±. Oscillations in the convective Nusselt number were observed for inclination angles of 45± (AR=4) and 90± (AR of 2 and 4) caused by the formation of thermal plumes in the bottom adiabatic wall that travel and mix with the thermal layer of the hot wall.