Abstract
Numerical investigations were carried out for natural and mixed convection within domains with stationary and rotating complex geometry by using an immersed-boundary method. The method was first validated with flows induced by natural convection in the annulus between concentric circular cylinder and square enclosure, and the grid-function convergence tests were also examined. Natural convection induced by isothermally elliptic cylinder was further investigated for different Raleigh numbers within the range of 10 4 -10 6 and the influence of the outer enclosure was also considered. The parameters investigated in the study included Rayleigh number, axis ratio and inclination angle of the elliptic cross-section. Local and average heat transfer characteristics were fully studied around the surfaces of both inner cylinder and outer enclosure. Finally, mixed convection in a square enclosure with an active rotating elliptic cylinder was considered and the heat transfer quantities of the system were obtained for different rotating speeds. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.