Effect of shape and sizes of a local heat source on convective heat transfer in a square cavity

Numerical analysis of the effects of the local heat source shape on transient natural convection in a square enclosure has been carried out. The local heat source has rectangular, triangular and trapezoidal shape. The boundary value problem formulated in the dimensionless variables such as stream function, vorticity and temperature by using the Boussinesq approximation has been solved by means of finite difference method. Distributions of streamlines and isotherms and time dependences for the average Nusselt number along the heat source surface in a wide range of governing parameters have been obtained.