Natural convection in a square enclosure with an internal isolated vertical plate

Numerical computations were performed for the average Nusselt number at an internal vertical plate situated in a square enclosure, with the inner plate and the bounding wall of the enclosure maintained at uniform but different temperatures. Natural convection occurred in the air which occupied the enclosure space. The position of the inner vertical plate within the enclosure was varied parametrically. The plate height-cavity height ratio was 0.513. For narrow distance between the inner plate and the bounding wall the inner plate Nusselt number was enhanced. Aside from this, the plate average Nusselt number was remarkably insensitive to the plate position. The effect of the Rayleigh number on the velocity and temperature fields and local Nusselt numbers are also discussed. The agreement between the predicted flow pattern for Ra=1.1×10⁶ and the flow visualization result was reasonably good.