MIXED CONVECTION FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER IN A VENTILATED INCLINED CAVITY CONTAINING HOT OBSTACLES SUBJECTED TO A NANOFLUID

The present study focuses on the problem of mixed convection fluid flow and heat transfer of nanofluid in a ventilated square cavity. The cavity contains two heated blocks subjected to external Al2O3-water (with particle diameter of 47 nm)nanofluid, while temperature and nanoparticle concentration are dependent on thermal conductivity and effective viscosity insidea square cavity. The governing equations have been solved utilizing the finite volume method,while the SIMPLER algorithm is used to couple velocity and pressure fields. The natural convection effect is obtained by heating from the blocks on the bottom wall and cooling from the inlet flow. Using the developed code, the effect of Richardson number, the aspect ratio of hot blocks, solid volume fraction, and cavity inclination angles on the thermal behavior and fluid flow inside the cavity are studied. The study has been executed for the Richardson number in the range of 0.1 <= Ri 10, solid volume fraction 0 <= phi <= 0.06, aspect ratio 0.5 <= AR <= 1, and cavity inclination angles between 0 degrees and 90 degrees.The obtained results are presented in the form of streamline and isotherm counter and Nusselt diagrams. It was observed from the results that for both obstacles and in all ranges of the parameters in this study, adding nanoparticles to the base fluid or increasing the volume fraction of the nanoparticles causes the Nusselt number increases. Also, the rate of heat transfer increases when the Reynolds number increases.