Further on integrator circuit analogy for natural convection

This research is an extension of the previous work on the development of an integrator (RC) circuit analogy for natural convection. This analogy has been proven experimentally as well as by numerical simulations. Additional Rayleigh–Bénard convection numerical simulations were performed to investigate ΔT (temperature difference between source and sink) dependence of the thermal resistance of a natural convection system. Our results suggest that analogous to voltage dependent resistor (VDR) in electrical engineering, ΔT dependent thermal resistance is observed in natural convection system. This ΔT dependent thermal resistance leads to a variable time constant. Moreover, this research also suggests that for a natural convection system, in addition to the thermal capacitance a kinetic energy capacitance also exists. The relative contribution of kinetic energy capacitance depends on Rayleigh number. These results provide significant step forward towards development of a new inexpensive modeling and transient analysis tool for a natural convection system.