Cooling of an electronic board situated in various configurations inside an enclosure: lattice Boltzmann method

Natural convection heat transfer in a square cavity induced by heated electronic board (as a thin plate at constant temperature) is investigated using the lattice Boltzmann method. Lattice Boltzmann simulation of natural convective heat transfer in a cavity in the presence of internal straight obstacle has not been considered completely in the literature and this challenge is generally considered to be an open research topic that may require more study. The present work is an extension to our previous paper (see Nazari and Ramzani in Modares. Mech. Eng. 11(2):119–133, 2011) in which the effects of position and dimensions of obstacle on the flow pattern and heat transfer rate are completely studied. A suitable forcing term is represented in the Boltzmann equation. With the representation, the Navier–Stokes equation can be derived from the lattice Boltzmann equation through the Chapman-Enskog expansion. Top and bottom of the cavity are adiabatic; the two vertical walls of the cavity have constant temperatures lower than the plate’s temperature. The study is performed for different values of Grashof number ranging from 10³ to 10⁵ for different aspect ratios and position of heated plate. The effect of the position and aspect ratio of heated plate on heat transfer are discussed and the position of the obstacle in which the maximum rate of heat transfer is investigated in both vertical and horizontal situation. The obtained results of the lattice Boltzmann method are validated with those presented in the literature.