Analysis of the effects of local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) on thermo-natural convection in an elliptical annular space separated by a nanofluid-saturated porous sleeve

Abstract

Local thermal non-equilibrium effects on heat natural convection features in a horizontal confocal elliptical annulus with the inner cylinder covered with a nanofluid-saturated porous sleeve is investigated in this study. The steady and laminar natural convective flow is incited by the thermal buoyancy resulting from the differential heating between the inner and outer annulus' surfaces. The nanofluid phase and the solid phase of the porous sleeve are hors local thermal equilibrium situation. The heat and the hydrodynamics equations in their dimensionless form under Darcy-Brinkman Forchheimer model for the porous region were computationally solved by the finite volume technique using the standard SIMPLER algorithm. The results were analyzed according to different porous materials characteristics under LTNE condition. The standard 0.05 significance level was employed to determine the local thermal equilibrium situation in the porous sleeve. For the first time, contours of the spatial distribution of the LTNE sources within the porous sleeve region were represented.