Natural convection inside a vertical cylinder due to combined heat- and mass-transfer effects

The natural-convection motion of moist air inside a open-topped, cylindrical cavity is investigated in this work. At the bottom, there is a layer of liquid water, whose temperature is controlled by external means. The gradient of density in the moist air is caused by the combined effect of temperature and mass-fraction gradients. The conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy and chemical species are integrated via a finite-volume formulation. Heat and mass transfer rates at the free surface are determined as well as velocity, temperature and mass fraction fields. (author)