Double-diffusive natural convection of Cu-water nanofluid in a window shaped cavity containing multiple obstacles with a heater on bottom wall

Abstract

In the present study, natural convective heat and mass transfer and fluid flow inside a window shaped cavity filled with Cu-water nanofluid and containing multiple obstacles with a finite size heater placed in its horizontal wall is numerically investigated. Sinusoidal temperature distribution is maintained by the heater. The left and right inclined walls of the cavity are maintained at a relatively low temperature while the vertical walls are insulated. The governing equations are transformed to the dimensionless form and solved numerically using Galerkin weighted residual technique of finite element method. The influence of pertinent parameters such as thermal Rayleigh number, location of the heater and solid volume fraction of nanoparticles on the heat and mass transfer and fluid flow is studied. The results are obtained in terms of streamlines, isotherms, isoconcentrations, average Sherwood number and average Nueeslt number for the considered parameters and it is observed that the flow pattern, temperature and concentration fields are affected by the variation of the mentioned parameters.