Combined heat and moisture convective transport in a partial enclosure with multiple free ports

Combined heat and moisture transport in an enclosure with free ports has been investigated numerically. Enclosed moist air interacts with the surrounding air through these free-vented ports. The governing conservation equations were solved numerically using a control volume-based finite difference technique. Appropriate velocity boundary conditions at each ports are imposed to achieve overall mass conservation across this system. Air, heat and moisture transport structures are visualized respectively by streamlines, heatlines and masslines. Effects of buoyancy ratio, thermal Rayleigh number on convective heat/moisture transfer rate and flow rate across each free-vented port are discussed. Particularly, Numerical results demonstrate that the convective heat and moisture transport patterns and transport rates on horizontal ports greatly depend on properties of porous medium, while the air exchange rate on vertical port is almost unaffected by the buoyancy ratios for most situations.