SUMMARYNumerical simulations have been undertaken for the benchmark problem of natural convection flow in a square cavity. The control volume method is used to solve the conservation equations for laminar and turbulent Rows for a series of Rayleigh numbers (Ra) reaching values up to 10". The k--E model has been used for turbulence modelling with and without logarithmic wall functions. Uniform and non-uniform (stretched) grids have been employed with increasing density to guarantee accurate solutions, especially near the walls for high Ra-values. AD1 and SIP solvers are implemented to accelerate convergence. Excellent agreement is obtained with previous numerical solutions, while some discrepancies with others for high Ra-values may be due to a possibly different implementation of the wall functions. Comparisons with experimental data for heat transfer (Nusselt number) clearly demonstrates the limitations of the standard k--E model with logarithmic wall functions, which gives significant overpredictions.

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