Numerical analysis of Marangoni effect on natural convection

Steady natural convection heat transfer inside a rectangular cavity has been investigated numerically. The cavity is filled with two different fluids; the bottom portion of the cavity is filled with water while upper portion of the cavity is filled with air forming an interface dividing the two fluids (Air and Water) where Marangoni convection occurs. The two-dimensional Navier-Stokes and Energy equations are used to govern the fluid flow and heat transfer inside the cavity and the Galerkin finite element scheme is adopted to solve these partial differential equations. Numerical simulations are carried out for a fixed range of Rayleigh number (104 ¿ Ra ¿ 106) and different aspect ratios (AR = 0.375, 0.5, 0.625). The effects of Rayleigh number and aspect ratios on the natural convection heat transfer have been investigated. The thermal and flow field inside the cavity are visualized via isotherm plots and streamline patterns respectively.