Numerical Investigation of Natural Convection Heat Transfer Characteristics in a Swinging Cavity

Abstract Floating nuclear reactors offer significant advantages in fields of remote island power supply. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the one-dimensional pipeline systems, and there is limited research on the natural convection characteristics within 2- or 3-dimensional enclosed spaces. This study employs a numerical method to investigate the effect of ocean motion on the natural convection characteristics of a square cavity. The cavity has an isothermal heated wall surface at 333K and an isothermal cooling surface at 313K, and the range of the swing period was chosen as [16s, 96s]. The numerical results indicated that while centripetal and Coriolis forces had little effect on heat transfer performance, they did improve the system’s ability to resist interference, with the most significant contributions to natural convection coming from thermal buoyancy and tangential force. Furthermore, as the swing period increased, the relative intensity of thermal buoyancy and tangential force changed, resulting in two distinct heat transfer performances. When the intensity of tangential force greatly exceeds or falls short of thermal buoyancy, the heat transfer curve remains constant for the majority of the period. Conversely, when the intensities were comparable, the heat transfer curve became sharp and unsteady. The findings of this investigation could provide a useful basis for subsequent research on marine nuclear energy systems and equipment.