Natural convective flows: A comparison with electrovortex flows

This work studies the convection phenomenon of two different fluids confined in a cubic cavity with a side length of 50 mm. Experiments with water and GaInSn eutectic alloy are conducted by heating and cooling the bottom and top lids, respectively. Temperature differences of 2, 4, 6, and 8 K are imposed between both lids to study convective flows. Particle image velocimetry and ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry techniques are used to measure water flows, whereas for GaInSn only ultrasonic Doppler can be used. Additionally, a numerical study was conducted using the ANSYS Fluent software. Experiments and simulations predict time-dependent flow patterns for both fluids. Maximum velocity values for water and GaInSn are up to 6 and 12 mm/s, respectively. Values for GaInSn are in the same order of magnitude as those obtained for electrovortex flows in the same configuration. Tables 1, Figs 10, Refs 26.