Flow field and Reynolds stress distribution in low turbulance natural convection in a triangular cavity

Abstract

Triangular enclosures are typical configurations found in attic spaces of residential as well as industrial pitched-roof buildings. Previous studies on airflow within such spaces have focused on the laminar range. A numerical study has been carried out for time-dependent, two-dimensional low turbulence natural convection of air contained in the attic of a pitched roof of triangular cross-section. Two sets of boundary conditions have been considered: enclosure heated from the inclined walls and from the horizontal base wall, for aspect ratios (AR) of 0.33 ≤ AR ≤ 1.73 for Rayleigh number (Ra), 109 ≤ Ra ≤ 1011. In this paper, the flow field and Reynolds stress distribution are presented for the isothermal and isoflux cases.