A numerical investigation is performed to analyze the steady state laminar natural convection phenomena inside a square
open cavity. An adiabatic circular cylinder is placed at the center of the cavity while the sidewall in front of the breathing
space is heated by a constant heat flux. The top and bottom walls are kept at the ambient constant temperature. Twodimensional
forms of Navier-Stokes equations along with the energy equations are solved using Galerkin finite element
method. Results are obtained for a range of Grashof number from 103 to 106 and the diameter ratios ranging from 0.2 to 0.4
at Pr = 0.71 with constant physical properties. The parametric studies for a wide range of governing parameters show
consistent performance of the present numerical approach to obtain stream functions and temperature profiles. The
computational results indicate that both the flow and the thermal fields are influenced by the effect of Grashof number and
diameter ratio.