Laminar Natural Convection of Non-Newtonian Nanofluids in a Square Enclosure with Differentially Heated Side Walls

Abstract

The present work deals with the laminar natural convection in a square cavity with differentially heated side walls subjected to constant temperatures and filled with homogenous 0,4 wt. % aqueous solution of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) based Au, Al 2 O 3 , Cu and TiO 2 nanofluids obeying the Power law rheological model. The governing differential equations have been solved by the standard finite volume method and the hydrodynamic and thermal fields are coupled together using the Boussinesq approximation. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of the nanoparticles' volume fraction (0 % < ϕ < 10 %) on the heat transfer characteristics of CMC based nanofluids over a wide range of nanofluid Rayleigh number (10 3 < Ra nf ≤ 10 6 ). Accurate numerical results are presented in the form of dimensionless temperature and velocity variations, isotherms, mean Nusselt number and heat transfer enhancement. The results indicate clearly that the heat and momentum transfer characteristics are affected only by the nanofluid Rayleigh number, while the type of nanoparticles (i.e. thermo-phyisical properties) and their volume fraction have effect only on the heat transfer enhancement.