Experimental and Numerical Study of Three-dimensional Natural Convection and Freezing in Water

In this paper we describe an experimental and numerical investigation of the response of an initially isothermal uid in a cubical box to an instantaneous cooling of the upper surface of the box. The other ve surfaces are neither adiabatic nor ideal heat conductors. When the lid temperature drops below 0 o C, ice begins to form on the top wall. The onset of convection in such a problem was investigated and the eeects of the ice interface on the convection are presented. The importance of the thermal boundary conditions on the ow structure is also discussed.