Surface radiation effect on convection in a closed enclosure driven by a discrete heater

This paper is aimed at presenting the changes experienced by a convective flow in a closed square enclosure when surface radiation is taken into account. The flow is driven by a centrally placed discrete heater in an air filled two dimensional square enclosure. Symmetrically cooled isothermal vertical walls and insulated horizontal walls are considered. The governing coupled partial differential equations were solved using a finite volume method on a uniformly staggered grid system. The resulting augmentation of fluid velocities and the factors causing them are discussed.