Numerical Investigation of Nanofluid Mixed Convection and Entropy Generation in an Inclined Ventilating Cavity

Abstract

This paper presents results of a numerical study of mixed convection and entropy generation of Cu–water nanofluid in a square ventilating cavity at different inclination angles. Except a piece of bottom wall with a uniform heat flux, all of the cavity walls are insulated. The inlet port is placed at the bottom of the left wall and the outlet port is positioned at the top of the right wall. Entropy generation, Bejan number, average Nusselt number and heat source temperature have been investigated for Richardson numbers between 0.1 and 10, Reynolds numbers in the range of 1 and 300, solid volume fractions between 0 and 0.06 and cavity inclination angles between ԟ90o and 90o . The results show that the average Nusselt number increases with increasing Richardson number for cavity inclination angle of 30o , 60o and 90o but decreases with increasing Richardson number for inclination angle of ԟ30o , ԟ60o and ԟ90o . Total entropy generation and entropy generation due to heat transfer decreases with increasing Richardson and Reynolds numbers, but the Bejan number increases with increasing Reynolds and Richardson numbers.

Keywords

• entropy generation
• Mixed convection
• Nanofluid
• Numerical study
• Cavity