International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Flow pattern and heat transfer in Rayleigh-Bnard convection of cold

water near its density maximum in a rectangular cavity
Yu-Peng Hu a, You-Rong Li b,, Chun-Mei Wu b, Si-Zhong Li a, Ming-Hai Li a
a
Institute of Systems Engineering, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621999, China
b
Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems of Ministry of Education, College of Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In order to understand the characteristics of Rayleigh-Bnard convection of cold water near its density
Received 21 May 2016 maximum in a rectangular cavity with an aspect ratio of 2, a series of direct numerical simulations are
Received in revised form 28 October 2016 performed by using the finite volume method. The flow patterns and their evolution and heat transfer
Accepted 3 November 2016
abilities are discussed in detail. Results indicate that the density maximum phenomenon affects signifi-
Available online 10 November 2016
cantly the R-B convection of cold water in a rectangular cavity. Compared with the cubical cavity, the crit-
ical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection in a rectangular cavity is small, and the effect of the
Keywords:
aspect ratio on the critical value decreases with the increase of the density inversion parameter. Some
Rayleigh-Bnard convection
Cold water
new multiple-roll flow patterns are observed in the rectangular cavity. Furthermore, the distribution of
Density maximum the local Nusselt number depends on the flow pattern. Compared with the results in a cubical cavity,
Flow characteristic the overall heat transfer ability in the rectangular cavity is enhanced under the same control parameters.
Heat transfer 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
When a fluid is heated from the bottom and cooled from the top
respectively, Rayleigh-Bnard (R-B) convection occurs, which has
long been studied and received increasing attention due to its
extensive correlation with many engineering applications, such
as solar collector, crystal growth, heat exchanger and nuclear reac-
tor etc [14]. Compared with the natural convection subjected to a
horizontal temperature gradient, the R-B convection subjected to a
vertical temperature gradient doesnt happen until the tempera-
ture difference exceeds a critical value. The R-B convection has
more complicated nonlinear characteristics with the increase of
the temperature difference. Therefore, it is also one of the typical
models for the nonlinear phenomenon [5]. The pioneering study
on the R-B convection can be dated back to 1900s [6], in which a
regular hexagon roll was observed experimentally. Then, a dimen-
sionless parameter, the Rayleigh (Ra) number, was proposed by
Rayleigh to describe the destabilization criterion of the R-B convec-
tion [7]. Thereafter, enormous efforts have been made to explore
the R-B convective characteristics in a cylinder. Charlson and Sani
[8], and Rosenblat [9] determined the critical Rayleigh number for
the onset of the R-B convection in a cylinder, and found that the
threshold value is 2000 when the aspect ratio A = d/h (d is the
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: liyourong@cqu.edu.cn (Y.-R. Li).
diameter and h the height) is 1 and this value decreases to 1708
when the aspect ratio approaches infinity. Hbert et al. [10] stud-
ied experimentally the R-B convection near the onset of convection
in cylindrical containers with different aspect ratios, and four
regions of the aspect ratio are classified according to the different
flow patterns.
Compared with the cylinder, the rectangle represents a different
symmetry, which may lead to different features of the flow and the
heat transfer. Therefore, the R-B convection in a rectangular cavity
has also attracted the attention of researchers [1113]. DOrazio
et al. [14] investigated numerically the R-B convection in
air-filled two-dimensional rectangular cavities, and obtained
evolution characteristics of the flow patterns from the one-cell
steady flow ? the two-cell steady flow ? the two-cell periodic
flow ? the one-to-three-cell periodic flow ? the three-cell
periodic flow. Furthermore, they concluded that the flow and the
heat transfer rates depend strongly on the geometry character.
Zhan et al. [1516] studied three-dimensional characteristics of
the R-B convection in a rectangular cavity with experimental and
numerical methods, and found that the rotation direction of rolls
is significantly affected by the thermal condition of the lateral wall.
Waleffe et al. [17] proposed heat transfer correlations for the
primary solutions which bifurcate from the conduction states at
different ranges of the Rayleigh number. Mukutmoni [18]
examined the flow evolution in rectangular cavities with aspect
ratios of 2.42 and 1.23 and found the counter-intuitive transition

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1066 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075
Nomenclature
A aspect ratio
e unit vector
g acceleration of gravity, m/s2
h height of cavity, m
l length of square cross section, m
L dimensionless length of square cross section
Nu Nusselt number
P dimensionless pressure
Pr Prandtl number, Pr = m/a
q exponent in Eq. (1)
Ra Rayleigh number, Ra = gc(Th  Tc)qh3/(am)
T temperature, C
U dimensionless velocity in x-direction
V dimensionless velocity in y-direction
W dimensionless velocity in z-direction
x, y, z Cartesian coordinates, m
X, Y, Z dimensionless Cartesian coordinates
from the quasi-periodic flow to the steady flow. This phenomenon
is also observed in the bifurcation analysis of the R-B convection in
a cubical cavity [19].
Recently, the multiple stationary states coexistence and the
flow characteristics of the R-B convection have been focused [20,21].
Boronska and Tuckerman [22,23] investigated the extreme
multiplicity in the cylindrical R-B convection with the aspect ratio
of 2, and discovered various coexisting patterns of steady and
time-dependent flows. Bousset et al. [24] studied numerically the
nonlinear three-dimensional R-B convection regimes in a cavity
with adiabatic and perfectly heat-conducting sidewalls. The exis-
tence of different types of convective structures is detected over
a wide range of governing parameters, and their stability ranges
of Ra are also assured. Puigjaner et al. [25,26] did further work
for the same model at Ra 6 1.5
105, and discussed the effect of
the Prandtl (Pr) number on the multiple solution. The variation
of the Nusselt (Nu) number as a function of Pr is presented for
the different flow patterns. Then, the insight is gained into the
onset and nonlinear development of the R-B convection in a 2-D
rectangular cavity by Daniels and Jhugroo [27]. The flow structures
of the steady state and their nonlinear development were
discussed in their study.
From the above-mentioned literatures the density of the fluid is
assumed to vary linearly with the temperature, and this kind of
fluid is often named as common fluid. However, some special fluids
that have density extremum exist in the natural and engineering
fields for which the linear temperature-density relationship is no
longer suitable. For example, the density of cold water has its max-
imum at around 4 C and decreases as the temperature is changed.
This density inversion phenomenon makes the R-B convection
more complicated. A lot of experimental observations and numer-
ical simulations have been reported for the natural convection of
cold water near its density maximum in the rectangular cavity
with a horizontal temperature gradient [2830]. The results
showed that the density inversion phenomenon has strong effects
on the fluid flow and heat transfer.
But until now, there have been a few investigations on the R-B
convection of cold water near its density maximum. Zubkov et al.
[31] investigated numerically the R-B convection of cold water in
a cubic cavity with the horizontal walls heated and cooled sym-
metrically relative to the temperature of the density maximum,
and totally six kinds of flow patterns were obtained. Then, an
experiment on the R-B convection of cold water in a rectangular
Greek symbols
a thermal diffusivity, m2/s
c thermal expansion coefficient, (C)-q
l dynamic viscosity, kg/(ms)
m kinematic viscosity, m2/s
H dimensionless temperature, H = (T  Tc)/(Th  Tc)
q density, kg/m3
s dimensionless time
Subscripts
ave average
c cold wall
h hot wall
m density inversion point
p period
cavity was carried out by Large and Andereck [32]. The upper stag-
nant region of the fluid layer which is not observed for common
fluid has been discovered in this experiment. But the flow charac-
teristics at different density inversion parameters were not inves-
tigated in this study. In our previous investigations [3335], the
R-B convection of cold water in cylindrical and cubic cavities was
studied systematically. It is found that the density inversion phe-
nomenon has a great influence on the R-B convection at different
density inversion parameters.
However, the flow structures of the R-B convection of cold
water in a rectangular cavity may be very different from those in
cylindrical and cubic cavities. Furthermore, the oscillation flow of
the R-B convection of cold water has not been reported until
now. In order to extend the existing knowledge, this paper pre-
sents a series of numerical simulations on the R-B convection of
cold water from steady to oscillation flow in a rectangular cavity
with the aspect ratio of 2.
2. Problem statement
2.1. Physical and mathematical model
The R-B convection of cold water near its density maximum in a
rectangular cavity is considered, as shown in Fig. 1(a). The cross
section perpendicular to the direction of gravity is square with
the length l and the height h of the cavity. The sidewalls are insu-
lated, and the top and bottom walls are cooled and heated at a con-
stant temperature Tc and Th (Th > Tc), respectively. The aspect ratio
A = l/h is fixed at 2.
For simplifying the problem, some assumptions are applied in
this model: (1) The cold water is incompressible Newtonian fluid;
(2) the flow is in the laminar regime and the viscous dissipation is
neglected; (3) all the thermal physical properties are constant
except for the density in the gravitational term. The thermophysi-
cal properties of cold water at a reference temperature of
Tm = 4.029325 C are listed in Table 1. The nonlinear density-
temperature relation of cold water is applied as:
qT qm 1  jT  T m =T 0 jq ; T 0 cq
1
1
where the maximum density is qm = 999.972 kg/m3. The thermal
expansion coefficient and the exponent are c = 9.297173
106 (C)q
and q = 1.894816, respectively. Therefore, T0 = 452.357332 C.
 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075 1067

Notably, the density inversion parameter Hm is adopted to

describe the density inversion phenomenon, which determines
the location of the maximum density temperature relative to the
hot and cold walls.
As mentioned before, the isothermal top and bottom walls with
H = 0 and 1 respectively and the insulating sidewalls are pre-
scribed for this problem. In addition, no-slip velocity conditions
on all solid-liquid boundaries are applied, i.e. V = 0. In order to
explore the flow evolution of all the flow patterns, the simulation
is initialized with the conduction state firstly, which can be consid-
ered as a sudden jump of heating power in an experimental situa-
tion where the fluid is maintained below the convection threshold.
Once the stable convective flow patterns are obtained, they are
used as initial conditions in the following simulation by increasing
or decreasing the Rayleigh number to assure the flow evolution
and the stability range of Ra, which is comparable to an experi-
mental situation where the heating power is changed abruptly
once a pattern is stabilized. The Rayleigh number is varied in steps
of DRa in the range of 1/300 6 DRa/Ra 6 1/200 according to the
stability range of the flow patterns, which assures enough
accuracy.
The local and overall heat transfer rates are measured by the
local and average Nusselt number, which are defined as:

@ H
Nu   8a
@Z z0

Z ssp Z A Z A
1
Nuav e NudXdYds 8b
Fig. 1. Geometry and sample computational mesh of the problem.
A 2
sP s 0 0

By introducing h, m/h, h2/m, ml/h2 as reference quantities of the 2.2. Numerical procedure and validation
length, velocity, time, and pressure, the dimensionless governing
equations in the Cartesian coordinate system are expressed as: The governing equations are solved in the spatial computational
@U @V @W domain by employing the finite volume method. The diffusion
2 terms and the convective terms are discretized through the
@X @Y @Z
second-order central difference scheme and the QUICK scheme,
@U @U @U @U @P @ 2 U @ 2 U @ 2 U respectively. The SIMPLE algorithm is adopted to handle the
U V W  3
@s @X @Y @Z @X @X 2 @Y 2 @Z 2 pressure-velocity coupling, and the fully implicit scheme is used
for the temporal discretization. Transient simulations based on
@V @V @V @V @P @ 2 V @ 2 V @ 2 V the Rayleigh number and the flow evolution are carried out with
U V W  4 a varying time step from 104 to 5
103. At each time step, the
@s @X @Y @Z @Y @X 2 @Y 2 @Z 2
convergence is reached if the maximum relative error is less than
105 for each variable. The state is qualified as steady if the
@W @W @W @W @P @ 2 W @ 2 W @ 2 W
U V W  observed variable doesnt change more than about 0.1%. The calcu-
@s @X @Y @Z @Z @X 2 @Y 2 @Z 2 lation ends until the flow takes about the dimensionless time 132
Ra
jH  Hm jq 5 265 to ensure that the R-B system reaches the steady state. The
Pr dimensionless time is 1326 times of the heat diffusion time of
! the system.
@H @H @H @H 1 @2H @2H @2H A structured grid is applied to the computational domain with
U V W 2 6
@s @X @Y @Z Pr @X 2 @Y 2 @Z an elevated concentration of nodes near the walls, and a uniform
spacing in the remainder interior of the cavity, as shown in Fig. 1
These variables have their common meanings in fluid mechan-
(b). A grid independence test is performed using different grids
ics and heat transfer, which are listed in the nomenclature. As
under the same condition. The results of the average Nusselt num-
shown in the governing equations, three parameters which govern
ber on the hot wall for different grids are given in Table 2. As can be
this problem are the Rayleigh number, the density inversion
seen from this table, all the grid sizes show very close results. Con-
parameter, and the Prandtl number, which are defined as:
sidering both the numerical accuracy and the computing time, the
Ra g cT h  T c q h =ma; Pr ma; Hm T m  T c =T h  T c
3 grids size of 215,000 is chosen, and the minimum grid size is
7
4.55
106 and the maximum grid size is 8.91
106.
Table 1
In order to validate the current numerical scheme, the valida-
Thermophysical properties of cold water at Tm = 4.0293 C. tion simulation for the R-B convection of cold water near its den-
sity maximum in a cubical cavity has been carried out in our
Item conductivity kinematic thermal Prandtl
viscosity diffusivity number
previous investigation [34]. An experiment on the R-B convection
of cold water in a cylinder is conducted and the experimental
Unit W/(mK) m2/s m2/s
results agree well with the numerical simulations in Ref. [35]. In
Value 0.562 1.567
106 1.354
107 11.573
addition, another validation simulation has also been performed
1068 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075
Table 2
Grid dependence of Nuave.
Hm Ra Mesh
0.3 50,000 92,000
215,000
382,000
0.7 300,000 92,000
215,000
382,000
on the problem of the R-B convection of common fluid in a rectan-
gular cavity, which is considered by Mukutmoni and Yang [18]. The
obtained results of the average Nusselt number are very close to
the results in Ref. [18] with a deviation less than 0.5%, as listed
in Table 3. Therefore, these validations provide enough confidence
to the accuracy of the current numerical scheme.
3. Results and discussion
In the present study, the flow patterns are examined in the
range of 2000 6 Ra 6 300,000. The schematic diagram of the stabil-
ity ranges and transitions between the convective patterns of the
R-B convection of cold water in a rectangular cavity with the aspect
ratio of 2 is firstly presented in Fig. 2. As can be seen from this dia-
gram, abundant of flow patterns are obtained and their transitions
are very different. Both the density inversion parameter and initial
conditions affect significantly the R-B convection of cold water. The
results are discussed in detail in the following sections (without
taking into account the solutions obtained by symmetry). To clar-
ify, some disconnected branches may be difficult to be detected
through the direct numerical simulation, which is reported in Refs.
[36,37].
3.1. Effects of the density inversion parameter
First and foremost, the stable flow states at different density
inversion parameters are considered when the conduction states
are used as initial conditions. The fluid remains stationary when
the Rayleigh number is small. With the increase of the Rayleigh
number, the fluid starts to flow provided there is a disturbance.
The critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection at
Hm = 0.3 is 5500, while the threshold value is 7300 for a cubical
cavity [34], which means that the stability is weakened with the
increase of the aspect ratio. Depending on the Rayleigh number,
several typical flow states at Hm = 0.3 are presented in Fig. 3,
where the maximum speed of the hot ascending-flow and the cold
descending-flow is also labeled. Near the critical Rayleigh number
for the onset of convection, the first flow pattern is a two-roll flow
state that has a cold descending-flow in the middle region and two
hot ascending-flows near the side of the wall. This state is labelled
as FP1 0.3 flow pattern, where the FP denotes the flow pattern,
the number 1 represents the sequence number of the flow pat-
tern and the number 0.3 means the density inversion parameter.
Corresponding to the flow structure, the convex and concave
Table 3
Comparison of the average Nusselt number for R-B convection of common fluid in a
rectangular cavity.
Ra Nuave
Ref. [18] Present Deviation (%)
2500 1.030 1.035 0.49
2600 1.068 1.072 0.37
2700 1.106 1.104 0.18
deformation of isothermal surfaces happens in the places of the
ascending- and descending-flow. When the Rayleigh number is
Nuave increased from 123,000300,000, a multiple-roll flow state, FP2
2.866 0.3 appears instead of FP1 0.3 state, which is composed of a hot
2.860 ascending-flow in a cross shape and four cold descending-flows
2.863 in the corner of the cavity. The deformation of isothermal surfaces
1.429 becomes much stronger with the increase of the Rayleigh number.
1.437 For the two flow patterns, the flow happens nearly in the whole
1.436 region since the density maximum locates near the top wall at
Hm = 0.3.
At Hm = 0.5, the maximum density of cold water locates in the
middle region of the cavity. It means that the horizontal walls are
heated and cooled symmetrically relative to the temperature of the
density maximum. The critical Rayleigh number for the onset of
convection increases to 21,900. The flow patterns near the onset
of convection are presented in Fig. 4. The conductive state firstly
evolves into a FP1 0.5 state in the range of the Rayleigh number
from 21,900 to 23,200. In this state, a three-roll flow pattern is
composed of three hot ascending-flows near the sidewall and a
cold descending-flow in the main region of the cavity, as shown
in Fig. 4(a). When the Rayleigh number exceeds 23,200, a four-
roll flow pattern, FP2 0.5 state appears instead, which has a hot
ascending-flow at each corner, as depicted in Fig. 4(b). But this
state only exists in a small range of the Rayleigh number, and it
reverts to the FP1 0.5 state at 25,600 6 Ra 6 29,200. Finally, the
convection destabilizes and evolves into oscillatory flow at
Ra > 29,200.
When the density inversion parameter is increased to Hm = 0.7,
the maximum density of cold water locates near the hot wall. The
flow doesnt happen until the Rayleigh number reaches 196,000.
Fig. 5 presents different flow patterns at Hm = 0.7. The conductive
state firstly transits into a FP1 0.7 state at 196,000 6 Ra 6 217,000.
In this state, four weak regions of the hot ascending-flow exist near
the sidewall and a strong region of the hot ascending-flow appears
in the center. At Ra = 218,000, the final state is the FP2 0.7 flow pat-
tern, and there are multiple spots of the hot ascending-flow in this
pattern. When the Rayleigh number is above 220,000, the spots of
the hot ascending-flow near the sidewall merge and form a FP3 0.7
flow pattern. For all the states, the flow only occurs in the lower
region of the cavity as the fluid in the top region is stagnant. Cor-
respondingly, the deformation of isothermal surfaces isnt
observed at H = 0.3, just at H = 0.5 and 0.7.
The critical Rayleigh number for the onset of the R-B convection
of cold water in a rectangular cavity and the results in a cubical
cavity which are reported in Ref. [34] are listed in Table 4. Gener-
ally speaking, the critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convec-
tion increases with the increase of the density inversion parameter.
By comparing the results in the rectangular cavity with those in the
cubical cavity, it was found that the critical Rayleigh number is
reduced. For Hm = 0.3, the critical Ra at A = 2 is just 75% of the
value at A = 1, and this ratio is increased with the increase of the
density inversion parameter, for example, it is 89% for Hm = 0.7.
It illustrates that the effect of the aspect ratio on the critical Ra
decreases as the density inversion parameter increases. In addition,
many multiple-roll flow structures are discovered for the R-B con-
vection of cold water in the rectangular cavity. This phenomenon is
caused by the influence of the sidewall of the cavity. Compared
with the cubical cavity, the suppression of the sidewall on the flow
in the rectangular cavity is weakened, which leads many abundant
flow patterns. Fig. 6 displays the contour of vertical velocity in the
X = 0.5 plane at different density inversion parameters. When the
density inversion parameter is small, the fluid flow is observed
nearly in the whole cavity, which is just like the R-B convection
of common fluid. However, the distribution of vertical velocity is
different for various Rayleigh numbers. At a large density inversion
parameter, the flow is inhibited and forms a stagnant fluid layer at
 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075 1069

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of flow transitions between convective patterns for cold water in a rectangular cavity. : flow patterns from a conductive state.

Fig. 4. Flow patterns at different Rayleigh number at Hm = 0.5.

Fig. 3. Flow patterns at different Rayleigh number at Hm = 0.3. Upper plot:
contours of vertical velocity in Z = 0.5 plane. Solid lines denote a positive value
and dotted lines denote a negative value. Lower plot: isothermal surfaces of H = 0.3
(upper), 0.5 (middle) and 0.7 (lower). the FP1 0.3 state remains stable in the range of
5400 6 Ra 6 206,000 when the FP1 0.3 state is used as an initial
condition. The FP1 0.3 state decays into a conductive state at
the top region. Corresponding to the contour of vertical velocity,
Ra < 5400 and evolves into a FP2 0.3 state at Ra > 206,000. The
Fig. 7 plots the distribution of the absolute value of vertical velocity
FP2 0.3 state remains stable in a wide range of the Rayleigh num-
along the center line. It can be seen that the absolute value of ver-
ber from 95,500 to 300,000, which illustrates that the FP2 0.3 state
tical velocity drops down sharply near the top. The reason is that
has a wide stable range of the Rayleigh number. When the Rayleigh
the density inversion produces the destabilizing temperature strat-
number is below 95,500, the FP2 0.3 state transits into the FP1 0.3
ification in the lower part and a stabilizing one in the upper part of
state. With the decrease of the Rayleigh number, the FP2 0.3 state
the domain. Therefore, the convection is driven in the lower part
transits into a new flow pattern, that is the FP3 0.3 state at
and damped in the upper one. In addition, the fluid layer thickness
Ra 6 16,000. The evolution of the flow pattern from the FP2 0.3
of convection decreases with the increase of the density inversion
state to the FP3 0.3 state is shown in Fig. 8. The cold descending-
parameter.
flow in the corner of the FP2 0.3 state merges gradually, and finally
surrounds the hot ascending-flow in the center and forms the FP3
3.2. Effects of the initial condition 0.3 state. As the FP3 0.3 state is used as an initial condition, the sta-
bility range of the Rayleigh number for the FP3 0.3 state is
The flow patterns reported above are used as initial conditions 4330 6 Ra 6 16,200. When the Rayleigh number is above 16,200,
in the following simulation to investigate the flow evolution of the the FP3 0.3 state evolves into the FP1 0.3 state, though the FP3
R-B convection of cold water. Concerning Hm = 0.3, it can be found 0.3 state doesnt appear in the flow branch of the FP1 0.3 state.
1070 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075

Fig. 5. Flow patterns at different Rayleigh number at Hm = 0.7. Upper plot: contours of vertical velocity in the Z = 0.25 plane. Solid lines denote a positive value and dotted
lines denote a negative value. Lower plot: isothermal surfaces of H = 0.3 (upper), 0.5 (middle) and 0.7 (lower).

Table 4 23,300 6 Ra 6 25,500. Below and above this range, the FP2 0.5
The critical Ra for the onset of R-B convection. state transits into the FP1 0.5 state. Fig. 9 describes the transition
Hm Present study (A = 2) Ref. [34] (A = 1) Racri (A = 2)/Racri (A = 1) process from the FP2 0.5 state to the FP1 0.5 state at Ra = 25,600.
0.3 5500 7300 75%
At s = 23.8, the strength of the hot flow in the corner of the cavity
0.5 21,900 26,400 83% decreases and the hot flow with the form of a circle appears in the
0.7 196,000 221,000 89% middle region. As time goes on, the hot flow in the middle region
moves down gradually to the bottom. The FP1 0.5 state is finally
formed at s = 60.1. Compared with the flow branch at Hm = 0.3,
When the Rayleigh number is below 4330, the conduction state no new flow state appears in the branch of stable flow patterns
replaces the FP3 0.3 state. at Hm = 0.5.
Concerning Hm = 0.5, the FP1 0.5 state is stable for the Rayleigh Concerning Hm = 0.7, the FP1 0.7 state is stable at
number between 21,000 and 31,700 in the flow branch of the FP1 192,000 6 Ra 6 217,000 in its flow branch. The FP1 0.7 state
0.5 state. The system recovers to the conductive state below this evolves into the FP2 0.7 state at Ra = 218,000, and the evolution
range, and above this range loses its stability and evolves into an is shown in Fig. 10. The hot flow near the sidewall transits into a
oscillatory flow. When the FP2 0.5 state is used as an initial condi- spot pattern, and the hot flow in the center moves down to the bot-
tion, the stability range of the FP2 0.5 state is assured as tom at s = 27.4. With time increasing, the strength of both hot and

Fig. 6. Contours of vertical velocity in the X = 0.5 plane.

 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075 1071

Fig. 7. Distribution of the absolute value of vertical velocity along center line (X = 0.5, Y = 0.5).

Fig. 8. Evolution from FP2 0.3 state to FP3 0.3 state at Ra = 12,000.

Fig. 9. Evolution from FP2 0.5 state to FP1 0.5 state at Ra = 25,600.

cold flow increases, and finally forms a FP2 0.7 state. In the range of
222,000 6 Ra 6 300,000, the FP1 0.7 state transits into a FP3 0.7
state. Using the FP3 0.7 state as an initial condition, its found that
the stable range of the Rayleigh number for the FP3 0.7 state is
213,000 6 Ra 6 300,000. The FP3 0.7 state transits into the FP1
0.7 state at 194,000 6 Ra < 213,000, and decays into a conductive
state at Ra < 194,000.
Three new flow patterns appear in the flow branch of the FP2
0.7, as displayed in Fig. 11. In the range of 203,000 6 Ra 6 300,000,
the FP2 0.7 state remains stable. Below Ra = 203,000, the FP2 0.7
state transits into new flow patterns. Firstly, a FP4 0.7 [Fig. 11(a)]
state with two circular hot ascending-flows with great flow
strength in the middle region and two sector hot ascending-flows
with weak flow strength near the sidewall is obtained at
199,000 6 Ra < 203,000. The convexity deformation takes place in
the middle region of the isothermal surfaces. When the Rayleigh
number is between 195,000 and 199,000, the FP2 0.7 state transits
into a FP5 0.7 state. In the pattern of the FP5 0.7, the number of the
circular hot ascending flow increases to three, and the hot flow
region near the sidewall expands, as shown in Fig. 11(b). With
the decrease of the Rayleigh number, the system decays into a
FP6 0.7 state [Fig. 11(c)] at 193,000 6 Ra 6 194,000 and a conduc-
tive state at Ra < 193,000. Since the FP6 0.7 state is near the thresh-
old of the convection, the maximum speed is small. Only one
circular hot flow with a weak region exists in this pattern.
In the FP4 0.7 flow branch, the FP4 0.7 state is stable at
190,000 6 Ra 6 204,000 and then evolves into the FP2 0.7 state
at 204,000 < Ra 6 245,000. A new state FP7 0.7 is obtained at
Ra = 246,000, as shown in Fig. 12. The FP7 0.7 state is a four-roll
flow pattern which is formed by three parallel hot flows and two
parallel cold flows. It has a wide stability range of
218,000 < Ra 6 300,000. At a large Rayleigh number, the phe-
nomenon about the vertex splitting is observed in the hot flow
region. The FP7 0.7 state evolves into the FP4 0.7 state at
1072 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075

Fig. 10. Evolution from FP1 0.7 state to FP2 0.7 state at Ra = 218,000.

Fig. 11. Flow patterns in the flow branch of FP2 0.7.

stable flow patterns which are initialized with the conduction state
at Hm = 0.5. The stability ranges of all the flow patterns and their
flow evolution are determined by changing the initial conditions
and the Rayleigh number. Table 5 lists the stability ranges of all
the flow patterns. The stability range of the Rayleigh number for
each flow pattern is different since there exists a great difference
in the distributions of the flow and thermal fields for various flow
patterns. In most flow branches, the critical Rayleigh number of the
flow transition from the flow patterns to the conductive states is
smaller than that of the flow transition from the conductive states
Fig. 12. FP7 0.7 state at Ra = 246,000.
Table 5
Ra < 204,000. Furthermore, the FP7 0.7 state can also evolve toward Stability range of all flow patterns.
a FP2 0.7 state at 204,000 6 Ra < 217,000 though the FP7 0.7 state
Hm Flow pattern Corresponding Fig. Range of stability
isnt observed in the FP2 0.7 branch. When the FP5 0.7 is used as an
0.3 FP1 0.3 Fig. 3(a) 5400 6 Ra 6 206,000
initial condition, the stability range of the FP5 0.7 state is assured
FP2 0.3 Fig. 3(b) 95,500 6 Ra 6 300,000
at 185,000 6 Ra 6 204,000; above this range, the FP5 0.7 state FP3 0.3 Fig. 8 4330 6 Ra 6 16,200
evolves into a FP2 0.7 state. The FP6 0.7 state remains stable only
0.5 FP1 0.5 Fig. 4(a) 21,000 6 Ra 6 31,700
in a small range of 193,000 6 Ra 6 194,000 in its branch, and FP2 0.5 Fig. 4(b) 23,300 6 Ra 6 25,500
evolves into the FP5 0.7 state at 194,000 < Ra 6 204,000.
0.7 FP1 0.7 Fig. 5(a) 192,000 6 Ra 6 217,000
Its found the initial condition influences the R-B convection FP2 0.7 Fig. 5(b) 203,000 6 Ra 6 300,000
greatly. The transitions between the flow patterns in each flow FP3 0.7 Fig. 5(c) 213,000 6 Ra 6 300,000
branch are totally different. A new flow pattern appears in the FP4 0.7 Fig. 11(a) 190,000 6 Ra 6 204,000
FP2 0.3 branch at Hm = 0.3, three new flow patterns in the FP2 FP5 0.7 Fig. 11(b) 185,000 6 Ra 6 204,000
FP6 0.7 Fig. 11(c) 193,000 6 Ra 6 194,000
0.7 branch and a new one in the FP4 0.7 branch at Hm = 0.7. FP7 0.7 Fig. 12 218,000 6 Ra 6 300,000
However, no new flow pattern appears in the branch of the two
 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075 1073

to convection. For example, the conductive state of Hm = 0.3 loses
its stability and transits into the FP1 0.3 state at Ra = 5500, while
the FP1 0.3 state decays into the conductive state at Ra = 5400
when the FP1 0.3 state is used as an initial condition. It means that
there exists hysteresis for the flow transition, which is also discov-
ered in the previous studies on the R-B convection of common fluid
and cold water [10,31]. The R-B convection of cold water in a rect-
angular cavity at Hm = 0.5 can evolve into an oscillatory flow at a
small Rayleigh number. Therefore, the FP1 0.5 and FP2 0.5 flow
patterns are just stable near the threshold of the convection with
a small range of the Rayleigh number.
3.3. Oscillation flow
When the Rayleigh number exceeds a certain critical value, the
flow becomes unsteady and behaves an apparent oscillatory
behavior. However, the R-B convection of cold water in a cubical
cavity is steady in the computation range of Ra 6 300,000 in Ref.
[34]. The flow evolution in a period and the time history of the
local temperature at a monitoring point are displayed in Figs. 13
and 14, respectively. At Ra = 40,000, four small hot flows and a cir-
cular one are observed in the corner and center at s = s0, respec-
tively. As time goes on, the hot flow in the center moves towards
the right corner gradually. It merges with the cell in the right cor-
ner after half a period. Then, it splits from the cell in the right cor-
ner again and moves to the center region at s0 + 3/4sp, as shown in
Fig. 13(a). It illustrates that the movement of the hot flow in the
middle region is the main factor that results in the oscillatory flow.
In Fig. 14(a), the local temperature varies in a wide range from
H = 0.4 to H = 0.9 with a large oscillation amplitude, and the
dimensionless oscillation period is sp = 16.77.
As the Rayleigh number is increased to 80,000, the two hot
flows at the bottom corner merge into a long strip of cell and
occupy the region near the bottom sidewall, and the cells with a
larger velocity becomes irregular, which leads that the symmetry
is broken at s = s0. In this case, the movement of the hot flow in
the middle region is also responsible for the oscillatory flow, as dis-
played in Fig. 13(b). Fig. 14(b) shows the time history of the local
temperature at Ra = 80,000. Compared with that at Ra = 40,000,
the oscillation amplitude is decreased. The dimensionless

Fig. 13. Flow evolution in a period at Hm = 0.5.

Fig. 14. Time history of local temperature at a monitoring point (X = 0.5, Y = 0.5, Z = 0.5) (a) Ra = 40,000; (b) Ra = 80,000.
1074 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075

Fig. 15. Local Nusselt number distribution on the hot wall.

oscillation period is reduced to sp = 4.26, which is only about a

quarter of sp = 16.77 at Ra = 40,000. It means that the oscillation
gets more apparent with the increase of the Rayleigh number.
The periodic solutions presented in the study might become steady
at higher Rayleigh number just like the R-B convection of common
fluid which is reported in Refs. [18,19].

3.4. Heat transfer performance

Fig. 15 gives the distribution of the local Nusselt number on the

hot wall at different density inversion parameters, which shows a
great difference for different flow patterns. The maximum value of
the local Nusselt number appears where the cold fluid descends
toward the hot wall, while the minimum value exists where the
hot fluid ascends from the hot wall. The density inversion param-
eter affects greatly the local heat transfer rates on the hot wall, and
the effect becomes more obvious with the increase of the density
inversion parameter. For example, the maximum value of the local
Nusselt number at Hm = 0.5 is only about one-third of that at
Hm = 0.3 when the Rayleigh number is 25,000, and the maximum
at Hm = 0.7 reduces to about one-fifth of that at Hm = 0.3 when the
Rayleigh number is 260,000.
The average Nusselt number is used to describe the overall heat
transfer ability. The variation of the average Nusselt number at
different density inversion parameters is plotted in Fig. 16. When
the Rayleigh number is below the threshold of the convection,
the conduction is the dominant mode of heat transfer. Therefore,
the average Nusselt number equals 1 at a small Rayleigh number.
With the increase of the Rayleigh number, the average Nusselt
number on the hot wall increases because of the enhanced convec-
tion. The heat transfer ability for each flow branch is different since
the distributions of the flow and thermal fields are totally different
for various flow patterns. At Hm = 0.3, Nuave for the FP1 0.3 state is
slightly larger than that for the FP3 0.3 state when the Rayleigh
number is small, while Nuave for the FP1 0.3 state is lower than that
for the FP2 0.3 state when the Rayleigh number is increased. At
Hm = 0.5, the heat transfer ability of the FP1 0.5 state is better than
that of the FP2 0.3 state. The flow gets much stronger when the
flow is in the oscillatory regime. As a result, the increase of the
average Nusselt number with the Rayleigh number of oscillatory
flow is faster than that of the steady flow. At Hm = 0.7, both the
FP5 0.7 state and the FP7 0.7 state have the highest Nuave at a small
Rayleigh number and a large Rayleigh number, respectively. In
addition, the average Nusselt number decreases rapidly with the Fig. 16. Variation of the average Nusselt number on the hot wall red: Ra-increasing
increase of the density inversion parameter at a given Rayleigh course; blue: Ra-decreasing course. (For interpretation of the references to colour in
number. For example, the maximum Nuave is 5.14 at Hm = 0.3 this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
 Y.-P. Hu et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 107 (2017) 10651075
and Ra = 300,000, while it is reduced to 1.53 at Hm = 0.3. It illus-
trates that the density maximum phenomenon inhibits the R-B
convective heat transfer. Compared with the results in a cubical
cavity [34], the average Nusselt number in a rectangular cavity is
higher under the same condition, which means that the heat trans-
fer ability is enhanced.
4. Conclusion
This investigation aims at the R-B convection of cold water near
its density maximum in a rectangular cavity with the aspect ratio
of 2. The flow structures, the flow branch, the oscillatory flow and
the heat transfer characteristics are exhibited systematically.
Based on the presented simulation data and discussion, the major
conclusions can be drawn as follows:
(1) The density maximum phenomenon affects significantly the
R-B convection of cold water in a rectangular cavity. The
critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection in a
rectangular cavity is smaller than that in a cubical cavity,
and the effect of the aspect ratio on the critical value
decreases with the increase of the density inversion param-
eter. Additionally, the density inversion produces a destabi-
lizing temperature stratification in the lower part and a
stabilizing one in the upper part of the R-B system.
(2) The flow transition in each flow branch are totally different,
which means that the initial condition influences the R-B
convection. Many multiple-roll flow patterns are obtained
for the R-B convection of cold water in a rectangular cavity,
which is different from those in a cubical cavity.
(3) The flow patterns are just stable near the threshold of the
convection, and then the R-B convection becomes unsteady
and behaves an apparent oscillatory behavior at Hm = 0.5.
The movement of the hot flow in the middle region plays
the main role for the oscillatory flow.
(4) The distribution of the local Nusselt number shows a great
difference for different flow patterns at various density
inversion parameters. Each flow branch also has different
heat transfer abilities, which corresponds to different flow
character. Furthermore, compared with the results in a cubi-
cal cavity, the heat transfer ability of the R-B convection of
cold water in a rectangular cavity is enhanced.
Acknowledgement
This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation
of China (Grant No. 51376199). We thank Ms. Li Zhang for helpful
grammatical edits.
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