Mixed convection flow and heat transfer in a bottom-driven shallow cavity heated from below

A combined experimental and theoretical study was carried out to investigate mixed convection heat transfer in a shallow cavity with a moving bottom. The shear force was produced by a moving belt forming the sixth wall of a shallow cavity. The test cell was equipped with two heat exchangers and three thermocouple racks for measuring the instantaneous temperature distributions at 12 different positions. The temperature field was scanned in the cavity for various flow and temperature boundary conditions. Two- and three-dimensional laminar flow and low Reynolds number k-ε turbulence models were used to analyze the problem theoretically. A comparison of the numerical predictions with experimental data revealed a reasonably good agreement.