Numerical study of a combined convection flow in a cavity filled with nanofluid considering effects of diameter of nanoparticles and cavity inclination angles

Abstract

The present paper focuses on problem of mixed convection fluid flow and heat transfer of Al2O3-water nanofluid with temperature and nanoparticles concentration dependent thermal conductivity and effective viscosity inside Lid-driven cavity having a hot rectangular obstacle. The governing equations are discretized using the finite volume method while the SIMPLER algorithm is employed to couple velocity and pressure fields. Using the developed code, the effects of cavity inclination angle, diameter and solid volume fraction of the Al2O3 nanoparticles on the flow and thermal fields and heat transfer inside the cavity are studied. The results show that at all solid volume fraction the average Nusselt number has inverse relationship with nanoparticles diameter. Also the results have clearly indicated that with increasing slope of the cavity to 90 degree, heat transfer continuously decreases at all studied Richardson numbers© 2017 Published by Semnan University Press. All rights reserved.

Keywords

• nanofluid
• variable properties
• solid volume fraction
• lid-driven cavity
• diameter of nanoparticles