Effect of the inlet opening on mixed convection inside a 3-D ventilated cavity

Mixed convection heat transfer in a 3-D ventilated cavity is studied numerically using finite volume method. The results are presented in terms of streamlines, temperature distribution, velocity fields, and average Nusselt number for different combinations of thermal and geometrical controlling parameters, namely, Reynolds number, Re = 100, Richardson number (0.01 ? Ri ? 10), relative height of the openings (B = h/L = 1/8) and relative width (0.5 ? A = w/L ? 1). The obtained results show that the flow intensity and the heat transfer rate can be significantly improved by an optimal choice of the mentioned parameters.