Turbulent natural convection in an air filled partitioned square cavity

An experimental study of low level turbulence natural convection in an air filled vertical partitioned square cavity was conducted. The dimensions of the cavity, which were 0.75 m high × 0.75 m wide × 1.5 m deep, resulted in 2D flow. The hot and cold walls of the cavity were isothermal at 50 and 10 °C respectively giving a Rayleigh number of 1.58 × 109. The local velocity and temperature were systematically measured at different locations in the cavity and both mean and fluctuation quantities are presented, i.e. ū, u′rms, v̄, v′rms, T, T′rms and u′v′. The local and average Nusselt numbers and the wall shear stress are also presented. The experiments were conducted with very high accuracy and as such the results can form experimental benchmark data and will be useful for validation of computational fluid dynamics codes.