Open Access

ARTICLE

Transient Free Convection and Heat Transfer in a Partitioned Attic-Shaped Space under Diurnal Thermal Forcing

Suvash C. Saha^1,*, Ali M. Sefidan², Atta Sojoudi³, Mohammad M. Molla⁴

1 School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
2 Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, 8041, New Zealand
3 Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
4 Department of Mathematics and Physics, North South University, Dhaka, 1229, Bangladesh

* Corresponding Author: Suvash C. Saha. Email:

Energy Engineering 2021, 118(3), 487-506. https://doi.org/10.32604/EE.2021.014088

Received 30 August 2020; Accepted 19 February 2021; Issue published 22 March 2021

Abstract

One primordial consideration in residential ventilation standards is the comfort of provided to people living in those habitations. This is highly dependent on the thermal and fluid flow conditions, the space geometry and so on. Efficient designs may reduce the energy usage, making the buildings more sustainable over a longer period of time. This study aims to investigate the impact of whole day thermal conditions on the fluid flow structure and heat transfer phenomena, mainly natural convection, inside a partitioned attic-shaped configuration. The Finite Volume Method is applied to solve the governing equations. Sinusoidal thermal boundary condition is applied on the sloping walls to illustrate the characteristics of primary flow through daily cycles. A highly thermal conductive partition was placed vertically at the middle of the cavity. Note that through the partition, only heat could freely transfer between two fluid zones. Results show that, during day time, a stratified fluid flow structure is obtained, which originates from the prevailing conduction heat transfer mechanism, while, for the night-time it changed into a strong convection mechanism which significantly affects the flow structure. These results are particularly important for understanding the fluid dynamics inside the attic shaped building and also designing new residential building.

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