Title screen

[References: p. 1569 (41 tit.)]

Three-dimensional transient natural convection in a cubic enclosure having finite thickness solid walls subject to opposing and horizontal temperature gradient has been investigated by a finite volume method. The turbulent flow considered into the volume is described mathematically by the 3D Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations using the standard k-ε model with wall functions, including the energy equation. The velocity and temperature distributions were calculated at fixed Prandtl number, Pr = 0.7 and different values of the Rayleigh number, thermal conductivity ratio and dimensionless time. Three-dimensional velocity and temperature fields, temperature profiles at middle cross-sections and average Nusselt numbers have been presented. It has been found that an insertion of the third coordinate for the conjugate problem leads to a decrease in the average Nusselt number by 5.8 % in conditions of a stationary heat transfer mode.