Effect of nanofluid variable properties on natural convection in enclosures filled with a CuO–EG–Water nanofluid

Abstract

This work focuses on the study of natural convection heat transfer characteristics in a differentially-heated enclosure filled with a CuO–EG–Water nanofluid for different published variable thermal conductivity and variable viscosity models. The problem is given in terms of the vorticity–stream function formulation and the resulting governing equations are solved numerically using an efficient finite-volume method. Comparisons with previously published work are performed and the results are found to be in good agreement. Various results for the streamline and isotherm contours as well as the local and average Nusselt numbers are presented for a wide range of Rayleigh numbers (Ra = 10 3–10 5), volume fractions of nanoparticles (0 ≤ φ ≤ 6%), and enclosure aspect ratios (½ ≤ A ≤ 2). Different behaviors (enhancement or deterioration) are predicted in the average Nusselt number as the volume fraction of nanoparticles increases depending on the combination of CuO–EG–Water variable thermal conductivity and viscosity models employed. In general, the effects the viscosity models are predicted to be more predominant on the behavior of the average Nusselt number than the influence of the thermal conductivity models. The enclosure aspect ratio is predicted to have significant effects on the behavior of the average Nusselt number which decreases as the enclosure aspect ratio increases.