International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452

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International Journal of Thermal Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijts

Natural convection and entropy generation in a vertically concentric

annular space
Sheng Chen*, Zhaohui Liu, Sheng Bao, Chuguang Zheng
State Key Lab of Coal Combustion, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Natural convection in a vertically concentric annular space is of fundamental interest and practical
Received 4 December 2009 importance. However, available open literature on entropy generation analysis for it is still sparse. In the
Received in revised form present work we investigate systematically the effects of Rayleigh number, curvature of annulus and
19 August 2010
Prandtl number on flow pattern, temperature distribution and entropy generation for natural convection
Accepted 19 August 2010
inside a vertically concentric annuli with the aid of the lattice Boltzmann method. The analyzed range is
Available online 16 September 2010
wide, varying from steady laminar convection to unsteady transitional state. Furthermore, we analysze
the non-linear branch of irreversible phenomena from a thermodynamics view point.
Keywords:
Entropy generation
Ó 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Natural convection
Vertically concentric annulus
Lattice Boltzmann method

1. Introduction oscillatory convection of cold water in a vertical annulus of aspect

Convection heat transfer inside concentric annuli has many
significant engineering applications. Starting from the micro elec-
tronic heat transfer devices, this type of geometry is found in elec-
tronic packages, electrical equipment, industrial heat exchangers,
petroleum drilling equipment, nuclear reactor, and so on. In practical
situations, many factors affect the heat transfer from the annular
space. In order to reveal heat transfer performances inside concen-
trically cylindrical annuli, a great number of excellent works have bee
done. Davis and Thomas perhaps are the pioneers to investigate
natural convection within concentrically vertical annuli [1]. In their
work, the flow and heat transfer characteristics with different aspect
ratios were studied. Schwab et al. found that when Rayleigh numbers
greater than 5
103 for natural convection within concentrically
vertical annuli, there would appear a fully developed boundary-layer
in the cavity [2]. Mixed convection flow pattern and heat transfer for
air inside a vertical, cylindrical annular space were investigated by
Hessami and his cooperators [3]. Yan and Tsay analyzed the fully
developed heat transfer performances inside an annular channel [4].
EI-Shaarawi and Sarhan [5] and Islam et al. [6] considered the case of
mixed convectional heat transfer at developing flow regime and also
analyzed the entrance effect. Ho and Tu studied laminar transition to
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shengchen.hust@gmail.com (S. Chen).
ratio 8 and radius ratio 2 [7]. Lee et al. investigated fully developed
turbulent mixed convection within heated vertical annular pipe by
large eddy simulation [8]. The study of natural convection in shallow
cylindrical annuli was conducted by Leppinen [9]. Usmani et al.
reported heat transfer characteristics during natural convection
boiling in an internally heated annulus [10]. Heat transfer in bilater-
ally heated vertical narrow annular channels was analyzed by Tian
and his partners [11]. Badruddin et al. showed the effect of viscous
dissipation and radiation on natural convection in a porous medium
embedded within vertical annulus [12]. Zanchini studied analytically
mixed convection with a temperature-dependent viscosity in
a vertical annular duct with uniform wall temperatures [13]. Barletta
et al. investigated heating effects in vertical porous annulus with
a radially varying magnetic field [14]. Avci and Aydin analyzed
analytically convectional heat transfer within a micro concentric
annulus [15]. Weng et al. reported the effect of wall-surface curvature
on natural convection in an open-ended vertical annular micro-
channel [16], to cite only a few. Recently, the present authors
numerically simulated natural double-diffusive convection in vertical
annuluses with high Rayleigh number [17].
The references mentioned above are based on the first-law of
thermodynamics and avoid complicated analyses for optimum
design. Recently the entropy generation analysis methodology [18,19]
which based on the second-law of thermodynamics, is used to opti-
mize heat transfer performance inside annuli. The influences of wall

1290-0729/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2010.08.011
2440 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452

Nomenclature fab strain rate tensor

Uk collision term in Eq. (12)
A aspect ratio Dx, Dt grid spacing, time step
c fluid particle speed DT temperature difference
D coefficient in Eq. (12) k thermal conductivity
!
ek discrete velocity n effective kinematic viscosity
!
g gravity r density
!
u fluid velocity vector s relaxation time for Eq. (6)
gk , f k distribution function in Eqs. (6) and (12) sj relaxation time for Eq. (12)
geq
k , fk
eq
equilibrium distribution function in Eqs. (6) and (12) 4 irreversibility distribution ratio
H height of simulation domain z dimensionless time
K curvature ratio zk, xk the weights for equilibrium distribution function
S Svanberg vorticity d, c coefficients in Eqs. (9) and (11)
Stotal total entropy generation number u, j vorticity, streamfunction
Sv entropy generation number
Be Bejan number Subscripts and superscripts
Br Brinkman number D thermal
Ec Eckert number m viscous
Pr Prandtl number k discrete velocity direction
Ra Rayleigh number 0 initial index
T temperature h high
!
x phase space l low
a, b spatial index
Greek symbols U, total global, total
0
Yo;k ; Uk source terms in Eqs. (6) and (12)

conductance ratio, scaling effects and different aspect ratios on steady laminar convection to unsteady transitional state. The above
convectional flow are discussed in Refs. [20e25]. Tasnim and Mah- literature survey clearly shows that there is no study in the literature
mud analyzed the entropy generation for mixed convection in on this topic. Moreover, a lattice Boltzmann (LB) model recently
a vertical annular space [26]. In their work, a correlation was developed by the present authors [31e35] is used to solve the
proposed for calculating optimum radius ratio. The effect of relative governing equations for heat and fluid flows and entropy generation
rotational motion between the inner and outer cylinders of a cylin- equation. As our previous work [36] demonstrates, the LB method
drical annulus on entropy generation was studied by Mahmud and possesses high efficiency for entropy generation analysis task.
Fraser [27]. They found that the entropy generation rate showed
asymptotic behavior near the outer cylinder provided that the rota- 2. Governing equations for natural convection in a vertically
tion of the inner cylinder was higher than the outer. For the concentric annular space
isothermal boundary condition, the Bejan number was maximum at
the inner cylinder. Yilbas and his cooperators investigated entropy The configuration of the vertical annulus is illustrated in Fig. 1.
generation characteristics of non-Newtonian fluid flow in annular The inner wall with the radius Ri and the outer wall with Ro. K ¼ Ri/
pipe [28]. It was found that entropy generation due to fluid friction (Ro  Ri) is the curvature ratio. The aspect ratio A ¼ H/(Ro  Ri). H is
and heat transfer was high in the region close to the inner wall of the the height of the annular cavity. The temperatures at inner and
annular pipe due to enhancement of convective heat transfer and outer wall are Th and Tl respectively and Th > Tl.
increased fluid friction due to high shear strain in this region. With the Boussinesq assumption, the dimensionless vorticity-
Increasing non-Newtonian parameter reduced the entropy genera- streamfunction-based governing equations for natural convection
tion number in this region. Allouache and Chikh reported the in a vertically concentric annular space read [1,2,34,35]
performance of a annular heat exchanger with a porous medium
attached over the inner pipe based on second-law analysis [29].
Results showed that the minimization of the rate of entropy gener-
ation depended on the porous layer thickness, its permeability, the
inlet temperature difference between the two fluids, and the effective
thermal conductivity of the porous substrate. An increase in the
effective thermal conductivity of the porous medium seemed to be
thermodynamically advantageous. The work to optimize flow and
heat transfer performance inside a microannulus was recently con-
ducted by Yari [30]. They found that entropy generation decreased
with an increase in the Knudsen number.

The main originality of the present work is to investigate

systematically the effects of Rayleigh number, curvature of annulus
and Prandtl number on flow pattern, temperature distribution and
entropy generation for natural convection inside a vertically
concentric annular space. The analyzed range is wide, varying from Fig. 1. The configuration of computational domain.
 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452 2441

(   )
1 v 1 v 2 
Table 1
vS vS vS 1 vT Pr v2 S
þ u þ w ¼ Pr þ r S þ 2 ; (1) Comparison of average Nusselt number obtained by the present model with
vt vr vz r vr Ra1=2 r vr r vr vz previous work.

"   # Pr Ref. [2] Present (100
100) Present (200
200)

vT vT vT 1 1 v vT v2 T
þu þw ¼ r þ 2 ; (2) 0.73 6.13 6.1342 6.1352
vt vr vz Ra1=2 r vr vr vz 1.0 6.17 6.1690 6.1673
7.0 6.36 6.3577 6.3721
 
v 1 vj 1 v2 j 25.0 6.31 6.3200 6.3259
þ ¼ rS: (3)
vr r vr r vz2

where S ¼ u/r is the Svanberg vorticity and u the vorticity. The ! ð0; 0Þ : k ¼ 0
ek ¼
Prandtl number Pr ¼ n/k and the Rayleigh number Ra ¼ agH3DT/nk. ðcosðk  1Þp=2; sinðk  1Þp=2Þ : k ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4
j is the Stokes streamfunction. T is the temperature; n is the kinetic c ¼ Dx/Dt is the fluid particle speed. Dx, Dt and s are the lattice grid
viscosity; g is the gravitational acceleration along the negative z-
spacing, the time step and the dimensionless relaxation time
axis; k is the thermal conductivity; DT ¼ Th  Tl is the temperature
respectively. Yo;k is the discrete form of the source term Yo [35],
difference and a the coefficient of thermal expansion. u and w are
where Yo ¼ 3r Pr1=2 vS 1 vT 1 1 vT
vr þ Pr r vr and Ra1=2 r vr for Eqs. (1) and (2)
radial and axial velocity components: Ra
respectively. Yo;k satisfies:
1 vj
u ¼ ; (4) X
r vz Yo;k ¼ Yo (7)
1 vj k0
w ¼  : (5)
r vr The simplest choice satisfying the constraint Eq. (7) is

3. Lattice Boltzmann model Yo

Yo;k ¼ (8)
5
In the last two decades, the LB method has matured as an effi-
The equilibrium distribution g(eq)
k is defined by
cient alternative for simulating and modeling complicated physical,
chemical and social systems [37e39]. Parallelization of a LB model  ! !
ðeqÞ d e k$ u
is relative easy since the relaxation is local and the communication gk ¼ 1 þ 2:5 (9)
pattern in propagation is one way. Of course in order to get good
5 c
performances, professional techniques must be developed for a LB d ¼ S, T for Eqs. (1) and (2) respectively and is obtained by
procedure [40]. Moreover, the LB moldes have been compared X
favourably with spectral methods [41], artificial compressibility d¼ gk (10)
methods [42e44], finite volume methods [32,33], finite difference k0
methods [17,45], projection methods [46,47] and multigrid
and the dimensionless relaxation time s is determined by
methods [48,49]. Up to date the LB method has been successfully
used to simulate many problems, from laminar single phase flows
2c2 ðs  0:5Þ
to turbulent multiphase flows [39]. The first LB implementation for c ¼ (11)
5
thermal convection is proposed by Massaioli et al. [50].
c ¼ Pr ; 1
Eq. (1) (governing equation for the flow field) and Eq. (2) for Eqs. (1) and (2), respectively.
Ra1=2 Ra1=2
(governing equation for the temperature field) both can be solved Eq. (3) is just the Poisson equation, which also can be solved by
by the LB model proposed in Refs. [34,35]. It reads: the LB method efficiently. In the present study, the D2Q5 model
h i used in our previous work [34] is employed because this model is
! ! ! ! ðeqÞ !
gk ð x þ c e k Dt; t þ DtÞ  gk ð x ; tÞ ¼ s1 gk ð x ; tÞ  gk ð x ; tÞ more efficient and more accurate than others to solve the Poisson
equation. The evolution equation for Eq. (3) reads
þDtYo;k (6)
! ! ! 0
! fk ð x þ c e k Dt; t þ DtÞ  fk ð x ; tÞ ¼ Uk þ Uk (12)
where e k (k ¼ 0.4) are the discrete velocity directions:

a b
8
0.

0.6
0.4

0.2

-0.2
-140
.4

-0.6
-0

-130
-0.8

-110
-90
-70
-50
-30
-10

Fig. 2. Isotherm (a) and streamfunction (b) at Ra ¼ 104.

2442 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452

a b

Fig. 3. Isotherm (a) and streamfunction (b) at Ra ¼ 107.

  
! ðeqÞ !
where Uk ¼ s1
j ½fk ð2 x ; tÞ  fk ð x ; tÞ, Uk0 ¼ DtzkQD, Q ¼ eq
fj jw ¼ fj j þ fj
noneq
j ¼ fj j þ fj jf  fj j þ O e2
eq eq
w w w f
e(r S þ w) and D ¼ 2 ð0:5  sj Þ. sj > 0.5 is the dimensionless
2 c

relaxation time [34]. f(eq)

k is the equilibrium distribution function, (16)
and defined by
where the subscript w and f represent the wall boundary grid and
 neighbouring fluid grid respectively. e is a small quantity [34,36].
ðeqÞ ðx0  1:0Þj : k ¼ 0 In order to validate the present model, we firstly calculate the
fk ¼ (13)
xk j : k ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4 average Nusselt number at the inner wall of free convection between
two vertical coaxial cylinders investigated in Ref. [2] with Ra ¼ 104
xk and zk are weight parameters given as x0 ¼ z0 ¼ 0, xk ¼ zk ¼ 1/4
and 0.73  Pr  25.0. The results are listed in Table 1. The numbers in
(k ¼ 1.4). j is obtained by
the brackets denote the used grid resolutions. It is clear the results
X obtained by the present model agree well with previous data [2].
j¼ fk (14)
k1
4. Entropy generation
Because the vorticityestreamfunction-based governing equations
are used, therefore the continuity equation is satisfied automati- The entropy generation number is given by [18,51]:
cally. Moreover, the distribution functions used in present work are
not the density distribution functions used in traditional LB Sv ¼ ðVTÞ2 þ4jfj2 (17)
method, so there is no obvious compressibility effect in the present
where the irreversibility distribution ratio 4 ¼ Br/DT [30,51]. Br ¼ Pr
scheme, as shown in our previous publication [34].
Ec is the Brinkman number, where Ec is the Eckert number [18]. jfj
Because the distribution functions at the walls are unknown, the
is the magnitude of the strain rate tensor [36]
non-equilibrium extrapolation scheme used in our previous studies
[34,36] is employed to treat flow and temperature boundary vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi u " 2    2 #  
u vu u 2 vw vw vu 2
2fab fab ¼ t2
conditions, namely
jfj ¼ þ þ þ þ
   vr r vz vr vz
jw ¼ gk jw þ gk jf  gk jf þ O e2
eq noneq eq eq
gk jw ¼ gk jw þ gk
(18)
(15)
where fab ¼ (vaub þ vbua)/2.

a b

Fig. 4. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at Ra ¼ 104.
 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452 2443

a b

Fig. 5. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at Ra ¼ 105.
Z
Apparently, it is inconvenient to calculate j4j (Eq. (18)) directly Stotal ¼ Sv vU (22)
by conventional numerical methods due to its complex form of
U
spatial derivative [36]. However, in the present LB model, j4j can be
calculated easily by [52,53] where the subscript U means the global computational domain.

jfj ¼ juj ¼ jrSj: (19) 5. Results and discussions

Because the value of Svanberg vorticity S is already known at each
grid point, therefore no extra computational cost needed for jfj in
the present model.
Recognizing the first term in Eq. (17) as reflecting the entropy
generation due to thermal diffusion and the second due to viscous
dissipation, the entropy generation number can be expressed as
Sv ¼ SD þ Sm (20)
where the subscripts D and m are used to indicate the effect of
thermal diffusion and viscous dissipation respectively. Usually SD is
referred to as Heat Transfer Irreversibility HTI and Sm as Fluid Fric-
tion Irreversibility FFI [18]. The Bejan number Be is given as [18,36]:
SD HTI
Be ¼ ¼ (21)
Sv HTI þ FFI
When Be [ 0.5, the irreversibility due to heat transfer dominates,
whereas Be  0.5 the irreversibility due to viscous effect domi-
nates. When Be ¼ 0.5 heat transfer and fluid friction entropy
generation are equal.
The total entropy generation number is defined as [18]
In the present study, A ¼ 1; 4 ¼ 1; 0.09  Pr  25; 104  Ra  107
and 0.01  K  50. The boundary conditions are: j ¼ u ¼ w ¼ 0 at all
walls; Th ¼ 1.0 at the inner wall; Tl ¼ 1.0 at the outer wall; vT/
vz ¼ 0 at the top and bottom walls. The initial conditions are
j ¼ u ¼ w ¼ 0 and T ¼ 0. The grid resolution 100
100 is used. The
relaxation time varies from 1.8 to 1.95 according to the value of Ra.
For simplicity, the abscissa is normalized by (r  Ri)/(Ro  Ri), and
the ordinate is normalized by z/(Ro  Ri) for all figures in this paper.
Because the flow field becomes unstable when Ra  106, in the rest
part of this paper, if not specified, the instant values, such as the
entropy generation number, are measured at time step 5
105. At
that time the unsteady flows with Ra  106 are fully developed,
namely the stable time-averaged macro-quantities can be measured.
The numerical code used here is described and validated in
detail in Refs. [35,36].
5.1. Variation in Rayleigh number
We firstly investigate the effect of Rayleigh number on flow
pattern, temperature distribution and entropy generation for

a b

Fig. 6. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at Ra ¼ 106.
2444 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452

a b

Fig. 7. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at Ra ¼ 107.

a b

Fig. 8. Total entropy generation number (a) and average Bejan number (b) versus dimensionless time at Ra ¼ 104.

natural convection in the vertically concentric annulus. K and Pr are
fixed at 1 in this subsection.
Figs. 2 and 3 show the isotherm and streamfunction with
different Ra. When Ra  105, the flow is laminar. Whereas Ra  106,
unsteady flow appears. If Ra continues increasing, the convection
will become transitional flow. The vortex center moves towards
outer wall with Ra increasing. The secondary flow emerges when
Ra ¼ 107. The shape of the isotherms show how the dominant heat
transfer mechanism changes as Ra increases. For low Ra (for
example Ra ¼ 104) almost vertical isotherms appear, because heat is
transferred by conduction between hot and cold walls. As the
isotherms depart from the vertical position, the heat transfer
mechanism becomes to change from conduction to convection.
When Ra ¼ 105 the isotherms at the center of the cavity are nearly
horizontal and become sharply vertical near the sidewalls. While
Ra ¼ 106, the isotherms are distorted in the vicinity of the vertical
walls, especially near the outer wall. The distortedness of the
isotherms spreads over the whole domain when Ra ¼ 107. From
Fig. 3, it is clear that obvious intrusions of isotherms are formed for
high Ra. The layers of stratification of isotherms near the lateral
walls become narrower and narrower against Ra.
Figs. 4e7 illustrate the entropy generation and Bejan numbers for
variational Ra. The maximum of entropy generation number
increases with Ra and appears in the vicinity of the corners of the

a b

Fig. 9. Total entropy generation number (a) and average Bejan number (b) versus dimensionless time at Ra ¼ 105.
 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452 2445

a b

Fig. 10. Total entropy generation number (a) and average Bejan number (b) versus dimensionless time at Ra ¼ 106.

a b

Fig. 11. Total entropy generation number (a) and average Bejan number (b) versus dimensionless time at Ra ¼ 107.

annulus. When Ra ¼ 104 the maximum emerges at the bottom-left
corner of the enclosure, whereas for Ra  105 it jumps to the top-
right corner. The convectional flow is clockwise, so the bottom-left
and top-right corners are barriers for the flow. Consequently larger
velocity gradients, namely larger irreversibility due to viscous will
appear near these two corners. When Ra < 105, the heat conduction
is predominant, so the isotherms near the inner wall are more
compact than that near the outer wall. Therefore the larger
temperature gradients, namely larger irreversibility due to heat
transfer, will emerge near the bottom-left corner. However, since
Ra  105, the heat convection is predominant, so the isotherms near
the outer wall are more compact. Accordingly the larger tempera-
ture gradients, namely larger irreversibility due to heat transfer, will
emerge near the top-right corner. It is the reason why the location of
the maximum of entropy generation number will change around
Ra ¼ 105. The entropy intensely generates along the lateral walls,
especially near the bottom-left and top-right corners. The layers
with significant entropy generation also become narrower with Ra
increasing, although their length are lengthened. At Ra ¼ 107 the
layers almost overcover the vertical walls. In the center of the cavity
the entropy generation number is very slight for all Ra. However, the
maximum of Bejan number appears in the center of the enclosure
when Ra < 106, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. When Ra  105, the irre-
versibility due to heat transfer dominates the whole domain except
two narrow layers near the sidewalls. The minimum of Bejan
number appears in the vicinity of the outer wall. At higher Ra (i.e.

a b

Fig. 12. Total entropy generation number (a) and average Bejan number (b) vs Rayleigh number.
2446 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452

a b

Fig. 13. Isotherm (a) and streamfunction (b) at K ¼ 0.01.

a b

Fig. 14. Isotherm (a) and streamfunction (b) at K ¼ 0.1.

Ra ¼ 105), the motion of fluid is strengthened than lower Ra (i.e.
Ra ¼ 104), so the area dominated by irreversibility due to viscous
effect is enlarged. The similar phenomena also can be found in Fig. 6
for Ra ¼ 106. While Ra ¼ 107, the areas dominated by irreversibility
due to viscous effect and heat transfer are indented and surrounded
each other due to the convectional flow becomes unsteady.
Figs. 8e11 show the variations of total entropy generation and
volume-averaged Bejan numbers versus dimensionless time. When
Ra  105, the total entropy generation number has a maximum at
the onset of the transient state, then decreases quickly to reach
a constant value in the steady state. However for Ra  106, obvious
oscillations of total entropy generation can be observed and the
oscillations become regular when the flow is fully developed.
Although the amplitude of oscillations for Ra ¼ 106 is much bigger
than that for Ra ¼ 107, it would cost much more time to achieve
regular oscillations for Ra ¼ 107 than Ra ¼ 106.
Fluctuations of the total entropy generation number at high Ray-
leigh numbers indicate that the flow exhibits oscillatory behavior

a b

Fig. 15. Isotherm (a) and streamfunction (b) at K ¼ 0.5.

 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452 2447

a b

Fig. 16. Isotherm (a) and streamfunction (b) at K ¼ 5.

a b

Fig. 17. Isotherm (a) and streamfunction (b) at K ¼ 50.

which depends on the boundary conditions [51]. At the very begin-
ning of the transient state heat transfer is mainly due to heat
conduction. The isotherms are nearly parallel to the active walls
generating an horizontal temperature gradient. The streamlines are
those of a single spiral with its center being near the center of the
cavity. As time proceeds the isotherms are gradually deformed by
convection generating a vertical temperature gradient while the
horizontal temperature gradient diminishes in the center of the
cavity and becomes locally negative which causes an elongation of
the central streamline. This transition may induce generation of
internal waves in the velocity and temperature fields who can be at
the origin of the oscillations of the whole cavity and consequently of
the entropy generation. The whole cavity oscillations were attributed
to the horizontal pressure gradient established by changes in the
intrusion temperature field. The two boundary layer oscillations are
attributed to traveling wave instability on the boundary layer induced

a b

Fig. 18. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at K ¼ 0.01.
2448 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452

a b

Fig. 19. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at K ¼ 0.05.

a b

Fig. 20. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at K ¼ 0.1.

first by the leading edge effect of the vertical boundary layer and
second by the impact of the horizontal intrusion from the opposing
vertical wall with the boundary layer. The whole cavity oscillations
are said to be caused by the splitting of the horizontal intrusion as it
impacts the opposite wall. From a thermodynamics view point, the
oscillatory behavior of the total entropy generation with
dimensionless time at high Rayleigh numbers shows that the system
is in the non-linear branch of the thermodynamics of irreversible
processes [51]. The convectional flow for Ra  106 is relatively far
from the equilibrium state, then a rotation around the fully developed
state is possible, and the system is in the case of a spiral approach
towards this state corresponding to an oscillation of the total entropy

a b

Fig. 21. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at K ¼ 0.5.
 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452 2449

a b

Fig. 22. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at K ¼ 5.

a b

Fig. 23. Entropy Isotherm (a) and streamfunction (b) at K ¼ 10.

generation. Consequently, the system evolves in the non-linear

branch of irreversible phenomena. The same conclusion also can be
draw from the behavior of volume-averaged Bejan number.
Fig. 12 illustrates the variations of time-averaged total entropy
generation number and time-volume-averaged Bejan number
versus Rayleigh number. It can be seen there is an approximative
linear relationship between the logarithm of Stotal and Ra:
log10 Stotal ¼ 0:268log10 Ra þ 3:98801 (23)
whereas the time-volume-averaged Bejan number decreases
quickly against the Rayleigh number when Ra > 105. When
Ra < 106, Be > 0.9, namely the irreversibility due to heat transfer
dominates. While Ra ¼ 107, Be z 0.5, which means heat transfer
and fluid friction entropy generation are approximately equal.

a b

Fig. 24. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at K ¼ 50.
2450 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452

a b

Fig. 25. Total entropy generation number (a) and average Bejan number (b) vs curvature ratio.

a b

Fig. 26. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at Pr ¼ 0.09.

These phenomena result from the motion of working fluid is
intensely enhanced with Ra increasing.
5.2. Variation in curvature ratio
To reveal the effect of the curvature on entropy generation of
natural convection in a vertically concentric annular space, the
cases with different value of curvature ratio 0.01  K  50 but fixed
values of Rayleigh number Ra ¼ 105 and Prandtl number Pr ¼ 1 are
chosen in this subsection, which can typify all cases in this study.
Figs. 13e17 show the isotherm and streamfunction with
different K. It can be seen that there is only one vortex center when
K  1. And for sufficiently small K (i.e. K  0.1), the flow patterns are
very similar with that for buoyancy-driven convection in single
circular vertical cylinder [35]. As K increases, the vortex tends to
move downwards and become elliptic and finally breaks up into
two vortices at K ¼ 5. The vortex near the inner wall is always
weaker than that close to the outer wall until K ¼ 50. When K is big
enough (for example K  50), the flow and temperature patterns
are nearly same with that for their planar counterparts(namely
K / N) [51]. The isotherms for K  0.1 are almost vertical except

a b

Fig. 27. Entropy generation number (a) and Bejan number (b) at Pr ¼ 25.
 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452
a b
Fig. 28. Total entropy generation number (a) and average Bejan number (b) vs Prandtl number.
near the top wall, which means that for very small curvature ratio
heat is mainly transferred by conduction. While K  0.5, the heat
transfer mechanism begins to change from conduction to convec-
tion with the isotherms departing from the vertical position and
becoming horizontally parallels in the core of the enclosure.
Figs. 18e24 illustrate the entropy generation and Bejan numbers
for different K. When K  0.1, the intense entropy generation is
restricted within a layer in the vicinity of the inner wall and the
maximum of entropy generation number emerges near the bottom-
left corner (except for K ¼ 0.01, whose maximum appears at the top-
half part of the inner wall). As K increases, the layer near the inner wall
becomes thick and there obviously emerges another layer with
intense entropy generation near the outer wall. While K  0.5, the
maximum of entropy generation number appears at the top-right
corner. However, the differences between these two layers become
being erased with K increasing and they are point symmetric with
respect to the geometric center of the cavity when K is sufficiently big
(for example K  50) [51]. The similar phenomena also can be found
for the Bejan number: When K  0.5, almost the whole domain
except near the vertical walls is dominated by irreversibility due to
heat transfer. The minimum of Bejan number locates in the vicinity of
the outer wall. Whereas for K  0.1, the irreversibilities due to heat
transfer and fluid friction are competitive within the core of the
enclosure. When K ¼ 50, the distributions of Bejan number are almost
point symmetric with respect to the geometric center of the cavity.
Fig. 25 illustrates the variations of time-averaged total entropy
generation and time-volume-averaged Bejan numbers versus
curvature ratio. One can see that the time-averaged total entropy
generation and time-volume-averaged Bejan numbers both are
non-monotonic functions of curvature ratio. Their minima both are
obtained at K z 0.08. When K  0.08 the time-averaged total
entropy generation and time-volume-averaged Bejan numbers are
monotonic decreasing functions of K whereas they become mono-
tonic increasing functions when K  0.08. For K  1, the variations of
time-averaged total entropy generation and time-volume-averaged
Bejan numbers versus curvature ratio are slight, and they approach
asymptotically to the values of their planar counterparts (i.e.
K / N) [51]. These findings are very helpful for optimization design
of heat transfer in a vertically concentric annular space. For example
to set K around 0.08 to improve exergy efficiency.
5.3. Variation in Prandtl number
To reveal the effect of the Prandtl number on entropy generation
of natural convection in a vertically concentric annular space, the
cases with different value of Prandtl number 0.09  Pr  25 but
2451
fixed values of Rayleigh number Ra ¼ 105 and curvature ratio K ¼ 1
are chosen in this subsection.
Fig. 26 illustrates the entropy generation and Bejan number
when Pr ¼ 0.09, which is the representative of the cases Pr < 0.1.
Because Pr is very small, therefore heat conduction is predomi-
nated. Consequently the map of entropy generation is very similar
with Fig. 4. Fig. 27 shows the entropy generation and Bejan number
when Pr ¼ 25, which is the representative of the cases Pr [ 1.
Together with Fig. 5, which denotes Pr ¼ 1, we can find that when
Pr > 1, the flow is dominated by heat convection. The maxima of
entropy generation number and Bejan number increase with Pr
significantly. Especially, when Pr ¼ 25, the minimum of Bejan
number is bigger than 0.9, which means that the irreversibility due
to viscous effect can be neglected when Pr is very large.
Fig. 28 plots total entropy generation number and average Bejan
number versus Prandtl number. The variable trends of them are
very similar: They both are monotonic increasing functions of Pr
and they increase sharply when Pr < 5.
6. Conclusion
Natural convection in a vertically concentric annular space is of
fundamental interest and practical importance. Until now there
have been numerous works on it. However, available open litera-
ture on entropy generation analysis for it is still sparse. In the
present work we investigate systematically the effects of Rayleigh
number, curvature of annulus and Prandtl number on flow pattern,
temperature distribution and entropy generation for natural
convection inside a vertically concentric annular space with the aid
of the LB method. The analyzed range is wide, varying from steady
laminar convection to unsteady transitional state. Through the
present work, four important features of entropy generation in
a vertically concentric annular space are revealed:
1. When Pr ¼ 1 and K ¼ 1, the time-averaged total entropy
generation number is a monotonic increasing function of Ra,
and there is an approximative linear relationship between the
logarithm of Stotal and Ra. But the time-volume-averaged Bejan
number has a inverse trend.
2. The entropy intensely generates within two layers along the
vertical walls. The differences between these two layers
become being erased with K increasing and they are point
symmetric with respect to the geometric center of the cavity
when K is sufficiently big. The extremum of time-averaged total
entropy generation and time-volume-averaged Bejan numbers
are obtained at K z 0.08. When K  1, the variations of total
entropy generation and time-volume-averaged Bejan numbers
2452 S. Chen et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 49 (2010) 2439e2452
with curvature ratio are slight, and they approach asymptoti-
cally to the values of their planar counterparts.
3. The maximum of entropy generation number will jump from
the inner wall to the outer wall with Ra and K increasing.
4. The total entropy generation number and average Bejan
number both increase monotonously with Pr.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the State Key Development Pro-
gramme for Basic Research of China (Grant No. 2010CB227004), and
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.
50936001, 51006043 and 50721005). The present authors would
gratefully acknowledge the valuable advice from the referees.
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