Thermal and irreversibility analyses of a suspension embodying nano-encapsulated phase change materials using power-law and Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer models

Abstract

The study of natural convection and heat transfer in a trapezoidal cavity finds a wide range of technological applications including thermal energy storage systems, building ventilation/insulation, waste heat recovery, electronic device cooling, controlling PV panel temperature, energy conservation, exchangers, nuclear reactors, furnaces, glass production, food processing, and drying technologies. The purpose of the current study is to explore the entropy and natural convection of non-Newtonian nano-encapsulated phase change material (NEPCM) suspension in a saturated porous medium enshrouded in a trapezoid-shaped domain with three heated blocks fitted with the bottom surface. The novelty of the present work is the introduction of power-law (Ostwald-de Waele) model subject to NEPCM suspension in trapezoidal enclosure emplacing three heated fins at its bottom surface embedded in Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy medium with variant porosity. The finite element method is implemented to solve the governing equations numerically. The important findings of the present study include streamlines, isotherms, velocities, and apparent viscosity enhance while entropy generation whittles down with rise in Darcy number. Entropy generation ameliorates by 519.16 % for low to high porosity of Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy medium. The maximum apparent viscosity augments by 1441.24 % when power law index ameliorates.

Keywords

• Thermal and irreversibility analyses
• Trapezoidal cavity
• Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy model
• NEPCM
• Ostwald-de Waele model
• Fusion zone