Simulation of Heat Transfer in Cylindrical Enclosures Under Constant and Time-Varying Heat Flux
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70567/mc.v42.ocsid8231Keywords:
Natural convection, OpenFOAM, BoussinesqAbstract
This work studies the phenomenon of transient natural convection inside cylindrical cavities subjected to constant and variable heat flow through the side wall, while the base and top are considered adiabatic. The motivation arises from the thermal analysis of large storage tanks exposed to climatic conditions. Simulations are carried out using OpenFOAM v.9, within the Boussinesq approximation. For a constant heat flux, the influence of different numerical schemes on the convective terms (QUICK, Linear, LinearUpwind) and mesh refinement is analyzed to assess the fidelity of the solutions. Three-dimensional configurations were considered, and the simulated temperature profiles were compared with reported experimental data, showing good agreement in the transient regime. Finally, a variable heat flux, defined as a function of the ambient temperature, is introduced to approximate real environmental conditions. This study provides a solid basis for the thermal analysis of storage tanks exposed to outdoor environments.
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