Simulation of two-dimensional thermosolutal convection in liquid metals induced by horizontal temperature and species gradients

• Published in: International journal of heat and mass transfer Vol. 39; no. 14; pp. 2883 - 2894
• Main Authors: Bergman, T.L., Hyun, M.T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1996; Elsevier
• Subjects: Composition effects; Convection and heat transfer; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Growth from melts; zone melting and refining; Lead alloys; Liquid metals; Materials science; Mathematical models; Methods of crystal growth; physics of crystal growth; Physics; Prandtl number; Thermal effects; Thermal gradients; Turbulent flows, convection, and heat transfer; Binary alloys; Temperature distribution; Thermohaline convection; Numerical simulation; Liquid metals; Cavity flow; Heat transfer; Crystal growth from melts; Concentration distribution
• ISSN: 0017-9310; 1879-2189
• DOI: 10.1016/0017-9310(95)00385-1

Two dimensional, thermosolutal convection in molten Pb-Sn housed within a square enclosure, is simulated using a spectral method. The predictions illustrate two regimes of liquid convection which develop in response to simultaneous horizontal temperature and species concentration gradients applied to the system. Sherwood numbers for the high Schmidt number fluid are quite high, and change markedly depending upon the regime of operation. Heat transfer rates are only moderately affected by convection due to the low Prandtl number of the melt. The predictions at relatively large Rayleigh number and buoyancy ratio display highly oscillatory behavior in a manner consistent with previous experimental observations.