3D investigation of natural convection of nanofluids in a curved boundary enclosure applying lattice Boltzmann method
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
ISSN: 0961-5539
Article publication date: 20 September 2018
Issue publication date: 19 October 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the natural convection behavior of nanofluids in an enclosure. The enclosure is a 3D capsule with curved boundaries filled with TiO2-water nanofluid.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a multiple relaxation times lattice Boltzmann method (MRT-LBM) has been used. Two-component LBM has been conducted to consider the interaction forces between nanoparticles and the base fluid.
Findings
Results show that the enhanced Nusselt number (Nu*) increases with the increase in volume fraction of nanoparticles (ϕ) and Ra number and decrease of nanoparticle size (λ). Additionally, the findings indicate that increasing volume fraction beyond a certain value decreases Nu*.
Originality/value
This paper presents a MRT model of lattice Boltzmann in a 3D curved enclosure. A correlation is also presented based on the current results for Nu* depending on Ra number, volume fraction and size of nanoparticles. Furthermore, a comparison for the convergence rate and accuracy of this model and the SIMPLE algorithm is presented.
Keywords
Citation
Hosseini Abadshapoori, M. and Saidi, M.H. (2018), "3D investigation of natural convection of nanofluids in a curved boundary enclosure applying lattice Boltzmann method", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 28 No. 8, pp. 1827-1844. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-10-2017-0414
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited