Mixed Convection in a Square Cavity with Anisothermally Heated Square Blockage and Filled with a Nanofluid

Abstract

In the present work, laminar mixed convection of TiO2-Water nanofluid around a hot obstacle in a square cavity with moving vertical walls is studied numerically. The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of the Richardson number (0 ≼Ri≼ 10), Reynolds number (50 ≼ Re ≼ 500) and the nanoparticles volume fraction (0% ≼φ≼ 5%) on both hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics around a hot obstacle in the enclosure. The analysis of the obtained results shows that the heat transfer is enhanced for high values of Richardson and Reynolds numbers. In addition, the volume fraction of nanoparticles has a significant effect on the heat transfer within the cavity.

Keywords: mixed convection, nanofluid, internal blockage, finite volume method