Natural convection in a square cavity due to thermally active plates for different boundary conditions

This work deals with the study of natural convection cooling of thermally active plates placed inside an air filled cavity at the center, with two different boundary conditions imposed on the cavity walls. By an active plate we mean one that is hotter due to isothermal heating or inherent heat generation. The walls of the cavity are subjected to either an isothermal temperature or a uniform outward heat flux. The finite difference method using the alternating direction implicit method coupled with the successive over-relaxation technique is employed to solve the governing nonlinear coupled equations. The results are presented and discussed in terms of a steady state isotherm and streamline plot, and over all Nusselt numbers. This study will provide qualitative suggestions that may improve the thermal design of sealed modern electronic packages which are encountered frequently in the electronics industry.