Abstract:

The purpose of this seminar is to review some aspects of the computational study of the flow initiated by natural convection with which I have been associated over a period of almost 40 years, including some interesting and, perhaps, unexpected phenomena exhibited by such flows.

Among the topics to be discussed are the double-glazed window problem; three dimensional natural convection in a box; motion on the mid-plane of the box; the dangers of upwind differences, how to do non-dimensionalisation effectively; flow in a thermosyphon; effects of thermal boundary conditions; and natural convection in a solidifying liquid.

Biography:

Prof. G. de Vahl Davis has had a career in computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer (CFD/HT) spanning over 40 years and was a pioneer in its use in Australia. He has taught fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, heat transfer and especially CFD/HT for all of that time. He was responsible for the development of the widely used method of the false transient for achieving rapid steady solutions of the CFD/HT equations. He was a pioneer in the concept of bench-marking in CFD, and is the author of one of the most widely cited papers on this topic. He is the author of the text book Computational Methods in Engineering and Science, and is author or co-author of more than 150 books, papers and other refereed publications on the application of CFD/HT to a wide range of problems of theoretical and practical importance. His principal interest is in computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer; topics studied include combined radiation and natural convection in cavities; steady and unsteady natural convection in low-Prandtl number liquids; phase change problems; natural convection in a solidifying liquid in two and three dimensions, with applications to metal casting and crystal growth; heat transfer in an annular cavity in the presence of a magneto-hydrodynamically driven flow, with applications to the design of lasers. Since 1968, his research has been supported by many grants from ARC and elsewhere totalling over A$3,000,000. Professor de Vahl Davis is the Member of the Order of Australia (AM), a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and an Emeritus Professor. He was awarded the Centenary Medal, Commonwealth of Australia in 2003. He is also actively involved in professional extra-mural activities. Prof de Vahl Davis is a Fellow of IEAust, a Fellow of IMechE and a Member of ASME.