Abstract

A numerical study for the conjugate analysis of unsteady natural convection and solidification during freezing of a rectangular food is presented. The SIMPLER finite volume method, with a nonuniform grid of 1575 nodes and nondimensional time steps of 2.5 X 10(-4) was used to solve continuity, linear momentum and energy equations for 10(4) less than or equal to Ra less than or equal to 10(6). The effects of Rayleigh number on the freezing curves and on average Nusselt number on the chamber wads and on the food surfaces are described. Transient results for streamlines and isotherms show nonsymmetric characteristics of the air flow around the food.