A numerical investigation is made of three-dimensional natural convection of a Boussinesq-fluid in a vertically-mounted cylindrical container. Interest is confined to flows with globally-stable stratifications and with substantial azimuthal variations...
A numerical investigation is made of three-dimensional natural convection of a Boussinesq-fluid in a vertically-mounted cylindrical container. Interest is confined to flows with globally-stable stratifications and with substantial azimuthal variations in thermal boundary conditions. Comprehensive numerical solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations are obtained. Flow characteristics are described in broad ranges of principal nondimensional parameters, i. e , the vertical and horizontal Rayleigh numbers and the container aspect ratio. Three-dimensional flow patterns are constructed. Vertical and horizontal profiles of major flow variables are plotted. The explicit effect of increasing the vertical gradient of on the global flow structure is delineated.