Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No.3, pp.

216226 (2007)

NUMERICAL STUDY OF COUPLED HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER

IN A TRAPEZOIDAL CAVITY
Moez Hammami*, Mohamed Mseddi and Mounir Baccar
Laboratoire de Dynamique des Fluides Numrique et Phnomnes de Transferts
Dpartement de Gnie Mcanique, Ecole Nationale dIngnieurs de Sfax,
Route de Sokra, B.P. W 3038 Sfax, Tunisie
* E-Mail: HammamiMoez2003@yahoo.fr (Corresponding Author)
ABSTRACT: In this paper, we present a numerical three-dimensional study of coupled heat and mass transfer by
natural convection occurring in a trapezoidal cavity. Our objective is to evaluate numerically the thermal and
hydrodynamic behaviour of this system. It is assumed that the cavity vertical walls are thermally isolated and
impermeable, and we imposed on the lower surface a constant high temperature and concentration. The upper surface is
supposed to be cooled at a constant temperature and has a zero concentration.
Governing equations are solved by a finite-volume technique and provide the temperature, concentration and velocity
fields in binary mixture air-water vapor system. The obtained results show that the flow configuration depends strongly
on the angle inclination of the upper wall. The influence of the cavity dimensions on heat and mass transfer rates is
also examined. In particular, as the aspect ratio increases, multi-cellular flow patterns start to form.
Keywords:
simulation

natural convection, trapezoidal cavity, coupled heat and mass transfers, finite-volume method, 3D

convection in an air-filled square cavity driven by a

temperature difference between the vertical walls.
The top wall temperature had a significant effect on
the flow along the top wall. In particular, there was
a flow separation on the top wall when the
temperature of the top wall was increased.
More recently, Sharif (2007) presented numerical
study of laminar mixed convective heat transfer in
two-dimensional shallow rectangular cavities with
an aspect ratio of 10. The top moving lid of the
cavity is at a higher temperature than the bottom
wall. Computations are performed for Rayleigh
numbers ranging from 105 to 107. The effects of
inclination of the cavity on the flow and thermal
fields are investigated for inclination angles ranging
from 0 to 30. The average Nusselt number is
found to increase with cavity inclination. The rate
of increase of the average Nusselt number with
cavity inclination is mild for the dominating forced
convection case, while it is much steeper in the
dominating natural convection case.
Additional works concerning the transient natural
convection in closed cavities with solutal gradient
has been conducted by many authors. Bennacer,
Mezenner and Bouhadef (2001) investigated
numerically and analytically the transient, double

1. INTRODUCTION
Due to its importance, natural convection in
enclosures has been investigated by many
numerical and experimental researchers, both in
rectangular and, to a lesser extent, in trapezoidal
geometries. As far as rectangular enclosures are
concerned, the basic problem of natural convection
has been quite extensively studied in both laminar
and turbulent flow regimes.
The study of Ostrach (1972) has made a big
contribution on the fundamental aspect of natural
convection in closed cavity. Let us also mention the
numerical and experimental works of Nicolette,
Yang and Lloyd (1985) that concern the transient
bidimensional and one-phase natural convection
that occurs in a cubic cavity filled with air, with one
vertical partition cooled and the other partitions
adiabatic. Leong, Hollands and Brunger (1998)
presented results for the natural convection problem
of an air-filled cubical cavity. The results are
presented for a cavity with one pair of opposing hot
and cold walls, and the remaining faces having a
linear variation of temperature.
Recently, Wu, Ewing and Ching (2006) conducted
an experimental investigation into the natural
Received: 3 Mar. 2006; Revised: 7 May 2007; Accepted: 12 May 2007
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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

triangle exhibits secondary, tertiary and quaternary

eddies. Thus, a triangular cavity would be
comparatively less effective in the transport of mass
and energy by convection.
Tiwari et al. (1997) study the convective mass
transfer in a trapezoidal cavity. They attempted to
determine the Nusselt number for a trapezoidal
cavity, which can be used for the evaluation of
convective mass transfer in a solar distillation
process.
Boussaid, Mezenner and Bouhadef (1999) studied
numerically the influence of geometry and the
nature of the species in the cavity. The obtained
results show that the heat and mass transfer rates
vary depending on the thermo-solutals solicitations.
The decrease of the Lewis number causes an
increase in the heat and mass transfer rates.
Recently, Reynolds et al. (2004) presented an
experimental and computational study of the heat
loss characteristics of a trapezoidal cavity absorber.
Heat loss from the absorber occurs via a complex
interaction between radiation, convection and
conduction within the cavity, and then from the
cavity to the surroundings.
Almost all the aforementioned numerical studies
have dealt with two-dimensional simulations.
However, the flow structure can be quite complex
and a two-dimensional approach is criticisable.
The aim of the present work is to study numerically
the coupled heat and mass transfer phenomena in a
trapezoidal cavity with a binary mixture of airwater vapor. The study intends to improve the heat
exchange coefficient between the inclined cooled
upper wall and the heated lower plane. For this
purpose, we suggest here a parametric study giving,
at various Rayleigh numbers, the effect of the
geometrical parameters of the cavity on the
hydrodynamic
and
thermal
characteristics.
Integrating local information allows us to correlate
the average overall heat transfer coefficient.

diffusive natural convection in a horizontal

enclosure. The enclosure is heated and cooled along
the vertical walls and solutal gradient is imposed
vertically. It is found that the flow becomes
unstable for finite range of solutal to thermal
buoyancy ratios. It is possible to obtain different
solutions on this region depending on the initial
conditions. Also, the results reveal that the thermal
convection may be suppressed for strongly stratified
fluid. Also, Hammami, Mseddi and Baccar (2007)
developed a two-dimensional numerical modeling
of thermosolutal transfer in rectangular cavity for
analysing the complex flow structure velocities and
temperature distributions in the transient regime.
The enclosure is heated and cooled along the
horizontal walls and solutal gradient is imposed
vertically. Resolution of coupled momentum, heat
and mass transfer equations gives interesting local
information concerning evolution with time of the
hydrodynamic and the thermal behaviours during
the storage of energy. Hammami, Mseddi and
Baccar (2007) have numerically proved the
importance of the salinity gradient in the
accumulation of energy and in the reduction of the
thermal losses by convection. They have
demonstrated that concentration stratification is
stable and resistant to the flow evolution.
Trapezoidal geometries on the other hand have
received more limited attention. Among the
representative studies in trapezoidal cavity were
those presented by Lam, Gani and Symons (1989)
who carried out both numerical and experimental
works, and Mcquain et al. (1994) who studied
numerically the flow in a trapezoidal cavity.
Mcquain et al. (1994) found that streamlines and
vorticity distributions are sensitive to geometric
changes. Indeed, the streamlines are altered as the
geometry changes from a rectangle, through a series
of trapezoids, to a triangle. The primary eddy
becomes smaller, only partially filling the cavity.
Due to its sharper and larger stagnant region, the

Cooled surface

Symmetry plane

z
y

Heated surface

L
Fig. 1

Schematic trapezoidal cavity.

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The parameter of practical importance in thermal

system is the overall coefficient of heat transfer
from the hot surface to the cold surface, which is
measured by the average Nusselt number. The
Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are averaged over
half of the bottom of the cavity and can be
expressed as:

The flow inside the trapezoidal cavity, as shown in

Fig. 1, can be mathematically described by the
continuity, momentum, energy and mass equations.
These equations are solved by finite volume method
in a Cartesian three-dimensional coordinates
system. Resolution is conducted in the steady
laminar regime by way of the false-transient
method.
2. MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION
We suppose that the fluid is incompressible and has
constant physical properties except the density in
the buoyancy term (the body force term), which
depends linearly on both the local temperature and
concentration (Boussinesq approximation). Because
of the symmetry of the system, it is only necessary
to conduct simulation over half of the cavity.
2.1

2.2

Basic equations

Continuity equation
r
divV = 0
U
+ div
t

(Vr U - Pr

grad U =

Vvelocity component
V
+ div
t

(1)

Uvelocity component

(Vr V - Pr

grad V =

Wvelocity component

P
x

(2)

P
y

(3)

Energy equation
T
+ div
t

(Vr

)=

(4)

(5)

C
1

r
grad C = 0
+ div V C t
Le

(6)

T - grad

2
Ll

l/ 2

T(x, y, z)
dy dx
z
z=0
L

l/ 2

and

C(x, y, z)
dy dx
z
z =0

(7)

Boundary and initial conditions

To obtain numerical solution of the complete

governing equations (1) to (6), finite-volume
discretization method was used. The cavity domain
is subdivided into a number of control volumes
defined in a Cartesian three-dimensional
coordinates. The equation of transport to be solved
is then integrated on each of these volumes, so
expressing the balance of flux J. The general
conservation form of the transport parameter ,
which stands for components of velocity vector,
temperature and concentration scalars, can be
written as follows:

P
Pr
+ Ra Pr (T 0.5 ) + Ra
(C 0.5 )
T
m Le
z

Sh =

3. NUMERICAL METHOD

r
W
+ div V W - Pr grad W =
t

Initially, the binary mixture air-water vapor system

is supposed to be in stagnation state: U=V=W=0.
The initial temperature and concentration
throughout the cavity are the same as ambient
conditions: T=0 and C=0.
The boundary conditions are the no-slip conditions
on all the rigid wall surfaces. The vertical walls are
assumed to be thermally isolated and impermeable,
and the lower surface is supposed to be maintained
at a constant high temperature and have a constant
saturated
water-vapor
concentration;
in
dimensionless form, we have: C=1 and T=1. At the
symmetrical vertical plane, the corresponding
boundaries are: U/y=0, V=0, W/y=0, T/y=0
and C/y=0. The upper surface is supposed to be
cooled by ambient air at a constant temperature and
has a zero water-vapor concentration (T=0 and
C=0).

By taking into account the previous assumptions,

the coupled transport equations governing heat and
mass transfer in 3-D Cartesian coordinates can be
written in dimensionless form as follows:

2
L l

Nu =

Concentration equation

218

dv =
t

div J

dv +

dv

(8)

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

r

a fundamental variation in the structure of the flow

and thermal patterns occurs as the length of the
cavity increases.
Therefore, for a small value of dimensionless length
L/H =1, Fig. 2 shows a large and powerful
recirculation occupying the entire cavity. As the
length of the cavity increases, multi-cellular
structures are generated. Hence, for L/H =2 (Fig. 3
refers), two cells are obtained. The cell situated in
the retracted side region of the cavity reveals a clear
decrease of the natural convection movement which
practically gives a stagnation zone. For L/H ratio
equal to 4 (Fig. 4 refers), we obtain a triangular
geometry cavity, and there appears a succession of
vortices which become smaller and weaker until
they disappear near the lower corner of the cavity.
Hence, we can distinguish a stagnation zone taking
place in the confined region of the system.
Generation of multi-cellular structure should
improve
the
fluid
homogenisation,
and
subsequently convective heat transfer will occur. In
fact, conjugated cells contribute to enhance the
axial convection which promotes heat and mass
transfer between the lower and the upper planes.

with: J = V grad is the flux term

of , is the corresponding conductance
coefficient, and S is the corresponding source/sink
term.
A staggered mesh is used in such a wayfour
different control volumes are defined for a given
node point: one for each of the three vector
components and one for the scalar variables. Then,
each of the transport equations is integrated over its
own control volume. The spatial discretization is
obtained using a hybrid scheme interpolation.
Concerning temporal discretization, the falsetransient approach with an implicit scheme of
alternate directions of Douglass and Gunn (1964)
was used. The pressure-velocity coupling was
handled by the SIMPLE algorithm of Patankar
(1980).
A computational domain consisting of 404040
grid points with non-uniform grid spacing in the x-,
y- and z-directions and a dimensionless time step
10-3 were found to be sufficient for producing
accurate results at reasonable computing time. The
convergence criterion required that the difference
between the current and previous iterations for all
of the dependent variables be 10-4.
4. PARAMETRIC STUDY
In order to ameliorate the heat transfer rate in a
trapezoidal cavity, a better knowledge of the flow
and thermal patterns inside this cavity is necessary.
The mathematical modeling allows predicting the
hydrodynamic and thermal behaviors in the cavity,
by conducting a parametric study on the influence
of: dimensionless length, dimensionless width,
inclination angle of the upper surface and Rayleigh
number.
These results are given for a buoyancy ratio N=1
(Ra = RaT = Ram) and fixed values of Prandtl and
Schmidt numbers (Pr=0.7, Sc=0.6), which
correspond to the average binary mixture air-water
vapor characteristics.
4.1

(a) Velocity distribution

Effect of the aspect ratios

Figures 2, 3 and 4 represent velocity and

temperature fields at the symmetrical vertical midplane of the cavity for different length ratios
(L/H =1, 2 and 4). Dimensionless width is assumed
to be equal to unity and the angle is fixed at 14.
These results are obtained for Ra=5x103, which
corresponds to a laminar flow regime. We note that

(b) Temperature distribution

Fig. 2

219

Velocity and temperature distributions at the

symmetrical vertical mid-plane for L/H =1 and
Ra=5x103.

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

(a) Velocity distribution

(b) Temperature distribution

Fig. 3

Velocity and temperature distributions at the symmetrical vertical mid-plane for L/H =2 and Ra=5x103.

(a) Velocity distribution

(b) Temperature distribution

Fig. 4

Velocity and temperature distributions at the symmetrical vertical mid-plane for L/H =4 and Ra=5x103.

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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

To verify this behavior, we have reproduced in

Fig. 5 the average Nusselt number as a function of
the dimensionless length for different Rayleigh
numbers and a constant dimensionless width
(l /H =1). It appears that the Nusselt number
remains unchanged when L/H is increased to 2.
This is because only one cell dominates the flow
field. However, when the L/H ratio is greater than
2, the heat transfer, and subsequently the mass
transfer occurs, which is related to the appearance
of more than one recirculation.

Ra = 5x10 3
Ra = 10 4
Ra = 2x10 4

Fig. 5

Effect of the dimensionless length of the cavity

on the Nusselt average number for various
Rayleigh numbers and l /H =1.

Fig. 6

3D temperature distribution for l /H =1 (L/H =2 and Ra=104).

Fig. 7

3D temperature distribution for l /H =5 (L/H =2 and Ra=104).

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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

The effect of the length ratio interacts with the

width ratio. Figures 6 and 7 illustrate
3-D temperature fields induced respectively in
small (l /H =1) and large (l /H =5) trapezoidal
cavities; the inclination angle is assumed to be
equal to 18. For cavites of wider width (as in
Fig. 7), the temperature patterns indicate the
dominance of a multi-cellular flow field giving rise
to alternating downstream and upstream natural
convection movement between two consecutive
cells.
Fig. 8 gives more information on the impact of the
width of the cavity on natural convection. It shows
Wvelocity component profiles for Ra=104,
L/H =2, and for various dimensionless width,
l /H =1, 2 and 5. These profiles give the axial
velocity evolution with the y coordinate, and are
reproduced for x=1 and z=0.3.

Fig. 8

For l /H =1 or 2, we notice that only one

recirculation occurs between lateral surfaces of the
cavity. As the width of the cavity increases
(l /H =5), we obtain a sinusoidal profile indicating a
succession, in parallel y-z planes, of clockwise and
counterclockwise secondary cells alternately.
It is noted that the width ratio has a great effect on
the velocity field whereas the dimensionless width
has a negligible influence on the average Nusselt
and Sherwood numbers (Fig. 9 refers). This can be
explained by the fact that the number of natural
convective eddies formed all along the width is
proportional to the cavity width.
4.2

The angle of the inclined wall can be varied from

zero degree (rectangular cavity) until it reaches a
triangular shape.
For the two inclination angles 10 and 26.5,
figures 10 and 11 show temperature and velocities
distributions at the symmetrical vertical mid-plane
of the cavity. These results are given for a Rayleigh
number equal to 104 and aspect ratios L/H =2 and
l /H =1.
The obtained results show that the flow
configurations depend strongly on the inclination
angle of the upper wall. For a small angle (as in
Fig. 10), two cellular flow patterns have been
found. The clockwise cell is comparatively weak
and at the verge of disappearance. At a larger value
of the angle (as in Fig. 11), the two cells mentioned
for =10 (Fig. 10 refers) were found to have
merged, creating a single and stronger natural
convective eddy pattern. It is noted that the
configuration of the thermal and flow behaviors in
this case is a type of heated triangular enclosure.
Fig. 12 shows the average Nusselt number as a
function of the inclination angle for L/H =1 and
l /H =1. The increase of the inclination angle gives
rise to thermosolutal transfer which causes the
Nusselt number to increase. This is because the
natural convection movement increases with the
angle, as reflected by the size and the magnitude of
the counterclockwise cells appeared in figures 10
and 11.

W-velocity component profiles for various

dimensionless widths of the cavity for x=1,
z=0.3, L/H=2 and Ra=104.

Ra = 5x10 3
Ra = 10 4
Ra = 2x10 4

Fig. 9

Effect of the inclination angle

Effect of the dimensionless width on the

average Sherwood number for L/H =2.

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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

(a) Velocity distribution

Ra = 5x10 3
Ra = 10 4
Ra = 2x10 4

Fig. 12 Effect of the inclination angle on the average

Nusselt averaged number for various Rayleigh
numbers, L/H =1 and l /H =1.

(b) Temperature distribution

4.3

Fig. 10 Velocity and temperature distributions at the

symmetrical vertical mid-plane for =10 and
Ra= 104.

Rayleigh number effect

In general, increasing Rayleigh number Ra

strengthens the buoyancy-driven cells generated by
the vertical temperature gradient. With all other
parameters remaining the same (L/H =2, l /H =1 and
=22), figures 13 and 14 show the flow patterns
generated for various values of Ra. Comparison of
the flow patterns indicates intensification of the
natural convection as Ra increases from 5x103 to
5x104. For a small Rayleigh number: Ra=5x103, the
flow is characterized by a large stagnation zone in
the confined zone of the cavity. Elsewhere, a big
counterclockwise cell dominates the flow field. The
flow pattern for Ra=5x104 is formed by succession
of three obvious eddies rotating at alternate
directions. The cell formed at the spacious side of
the cavity is much stronger than the other two cells.
These recirculations enhance the heat transferred
from the heated lower surface to the cooled inclined
plane.

(a) Velocity distribution

(b) Temperature distribution

Fig. 11 Velocity and temperature distributions at the
symmetrical vertical mid-plane for =26.5 and
Ra= 104

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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

(a) Temperature distributions (Corcione, 2003).

Fig. 13 Velocity distribution at the symmetrical vertical

mid-plane for L/H =2, =10 and Ra= 5x103.

(b) Temperature distributions (Present study).

Fig. 15 Comparison of the temperature distributions in

the cavity for a Rayleigh number equal to 104.
Fig. 14 Velocity distribution at the symmetrical vertical
mid-plane for L/H =2, =10 and Ra=5x104.

5. COMPARISON WITH ANTERIOR

RESULTS
In order to check the accuracy of the findings
obtained in the present study, we have reproduced
the study of natural convection heat transfer in a
rectangular enclosure, which was reported earlier
by Corcione (2003). In his work, a numerical study
of laminar natural convection in a cavity using air
as the medium and having differentially heated
isothermal horizontal walls and adiabatic vertical
walls is reported. Simulation is conducted for aspect
ratio L/H =2. Furthermore, it is assumed that the
flow is incompressible and laminar, and fluid is
Newtonian.
Fig. 15, giving the temperature distributions in the
cavity for a Rayleigh number equal to 104, shows a
satisfactory qualitative agreement between our
computations and those of Corcione (2003).
We also compared in Fig. 16 our results with the
published data of Corcione (2003) on the average
Nusselt number along the hot bottom wall as a
function of the Rayleigh number Ra. As well, a
good agreement with the anterior results is
observed.

Fig. 16 Comparison of the average Nusselt number with

anterior results reported by Corcione (2003).

6. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical
modeling of heat and mass transfer in a binary
mixture of air-water vapor confined in a trapezoidal
cavity has been developed. The solution of the
coupled momentum and heat and mass transfer
equations is achieved by the control volume
method. We have demonstrated that a fundamental
variation in the flow and thermal structures
accompanies the modification of the aspect ratios,
the inclination of the upper cooled wall and the
Raleigh number. The flow changes from a
predominantly mono-cellular pattern to a multi224

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

cellular structure when the aspect ratios of the

cavity are increased. Also, increasing Ra number
favours the appearance of a succession of vortices.
However, the increase in the angle of the inclined
cold wall entails gradually a flow comparable to
that occurs in a triangular enclosure. Appearance of
multi-cellular structure improves the fluid
homogenisation, and heat and mass transfer will
take place. But this creates a very slow moving
fluid in the retracted region of the cavity, giving a
nearly stagnant region.
Integrating local vertical temperature gradient at the
bottom of the cavity allows us to correlate the
overall heat transfer coefficient. The heat transfer
profiles did not reveal a significant change in the
Nusselt numberNu values, when the width ratio
increased. However, Nu was found to increase
when the length ratio changed from 2 to 4. Also, we
note that the Nusselt number increases as a function
of the angle and the Rayleigh number.
For design purposes, an attempt has been made to
correlate all of the heat transfer data obtained in this
study. By cross-plotting numerical data, the Nusselt
number can be correlated by using equation (9),
established for length ratio L/H less than 2:
Nu = 0.17 Ra0.25 0.16

Dimensionless form
C = [C (Cmax +Cmin )/2]/(Cmax -Cmin )
L = L/H
l = l /H
P = P / ( a2 /H 2 )
T = (T (T max + T min )/2)/( T max - T min )
U=U H / a , V=V H / a , W=W H / a
x=X/ H , y=Y/ H , z=Z/ H
Greek symbols

T
c

(9)

Nu = 0.11 Ra

0.16

(L/H)

0.62

Le
N
Nu
Pr
Sc
Sh
Ra
RaT
Ram

(10)

It appears that the numerical Nusselt numbers given

by both equations (9) and (10) versus Ra number
are approximately equal to 0.25. This result is in
agreement with the general theory of natural
convective flows.
Finally, numerical results have been compared with
literature data and a satisfactory agreement is found.

Lewis number
buoyancy ratio
Nusselt number
Prandtl number
Schmidt number
Sherwood number
Rayleigh number
temperature Rayleigh number
mass Rayleigh number

REFERENCES

NOMENCLATURE
a = / ( Cp)
C
Cmin
Cmax
Cp
D
g
h
H
L

fluid density
dynamic fluid viscosity
thermal expansion coefficient
compositional expansion coefficient
thermal conductivity
inclination angle

Dimensionless numbers

For 2<L/H<4, the computation equation giving the

heat transfer is as follows:
0.25

width of the cavity

pressure
temperature
minimal temperature
maximal temperature
velocity components
spatial coordinates

l
P
T
T min
T max
U, V, W
X, Y, Z

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minimal concentration
maximal concentration
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Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics Vol. 1, No. 3 (2007)

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