The Effect of Variable Properties on Rayleigh-Benard Convection in an Enclosure Filled with Al2O3-EG-Water Nanofluid

AuthorsG.A. Sheikhzadeh, S.P. Ghaffari, M.M. Fakhari
JournalInternational Journal of Engineering
Presented byUniversity of Kashan
Page number1411-1422
Serial number12
Volume number26
Paper TypeFull Paper
Published AtDecember 2013
Journal GradeScientific - research
Journal TypeTypographic
Journal CountryIran, Islamic Republic Of

Abstract

In this paper, the natural convection heat transfer of Al2O3-EG-water nanofluid in a rectangular cavity which is heated from the bottom and is cooled from the top has been investigated numerically. The governing equations for a Newtonian fluid have been solved numerically with a finite volume approach using the SIMPLER algorithm. The main focus of the current study is on the effects of variable thermophysical properties of nanofluid on the heat transfer in natural convection. The influence of pertinent parameters such as Rayleigh number (Ra=105-107) and volume fractions of nanoparticles (0≤Φ≤0.05) on the heat transfer characteristics of natural convection have been studied. The results have shown that the average Nusselt number is reduced by increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles. To study the significance of temperature effect on thermophysical properties of nanofluid, the results obtained by using variable properties of nanofluid are compared with those of constant properties.

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