Numerical study of natural convection heat transfer in a horizontal channel provided with rectangular blocks releasing uniform heat flux and mounted on its lower wall

Two-dimensional laminar steady natural convection in a horizontal channel with the upper wall maintained cold at a constant temperature and the lower one provided with rectangular heating blocks, periodically distributed, has been studied numerically. The blocks are connected with adiabatic segments and their surfaces are assumed to release a uniform heat flux. The study is performed using air as the working fluid (Pr = 0.72). The spacing between the blocks is maintained constant (C = l′/H′ = 0.5) while the Rayleigh number and the relative height of the blocks are respectively varied in the ranges 102 ⩽ Ra ⩽ 2 × 106 and 1/8 ⩽ B = h′/H′ ⩽ 1/2. The effect of the computational domain length on the multiplicity of solutions is investigated. Flow and temperature fields are also produced for various combinations of the governing parameters. It is demonstrated that, depending on the length of the computational domain and the governing parameters, different flow structures can be obtained.