Numerical study of natural convection and acoustic waves using the lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the lattice Boltzmann method is used to study the acoustic waves propagation inside a differentially heated square enclosure filled with air. The waves are generated by a point sound source located at the center of this cavity. The main aim of this simulation is to simulate the interaction between the thermal convection and the propagation of these acoustic waves. The results have been validated with those obtained in the literature and show that the effect of natural convection on the acoustic waves propagation is almost negligible for low Rayleigh numbers ( Ra ≤ 10 4 ), which begins to appear when the Rayleigh number begins to become important ( Ra ≥ 10 5 ) and it becomes considerable for large Rayleigh numbers ( Ra ≥ 10 6 ) where the thermal convection is important.