Double Diffusive Mixed Convection in a Channel with a Circular Heater

Double diffusive mixed convection in an open channel with a circular heater on the bottom wall has been investigated in this paper. Constant temperatures and concentrations are considered along the semi-circle and the lateral walls of the channel are adiabatic. Galerkin weighted residual finite element method have been used to solve the governing equations. Calculations were performed for Rayleigh numbers and Lewis number. Reynolds and Prandtl numbers are fixed as 100 and 0.7 for whole study, respectively. Various characteristics such as streamlines, isotherms, isoconcentration and heat and mass transfer rate in terms of the average Nusselt number and Sherwood numbers are presented for the aforesaid parameters. It is found that, average Nusselt number at the heat source decreases and overall mass transfer rate in terms of average Sherwood number increases with the rising of Lewis number. In addition, Rayleigh numbers have also significant effects on the heat and mass transfer process.