Temperature effects on the enhanced or deteriorated buoyancy-driven heat transfer in differentially heated enclosures filled with nanofluids

Abstract

ABSTRACTA two-phase model based on the double-diffusive approach is used to perform a numerical study of natural convection in differentially heated vertical cavities filled with water-based nanofluids, assuming that Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis are the only slip mechanisms by which the solid phase can develop a significant relative velocity with respect to the liquid phase. The system of the governing equations of continuity, momentum, and energy for the nanofluid, and continuity for the nanoparticles, is solved through a computational code, which incorporates three empirical correlations for the evaluation of the effective thermal conductivity, the effective dynamic viscosity, and the thermophoretic diffusion coefficient, all based on the literature experimental data. The pressure–velocity coupling is handled using the SIMPLE-C algorithm. Numerical simulations are executed for three different nanofluids, using the diameter and the average volume fraction of the suspended nanoparticles, as well as the cavity width, the average temperature of the nanofluid, and the temperature difference imposed across the cavity, as independent variables. It is found that the heat transfer performance of the nanofluid relative to that of the base fluid increases notably with increasing the average temperature, showing a peak at an optimal particle loading. Conversely, the other controlling parameters have moderate effects.