Benchmark Model: Natural Convection of Water-Aluminum Oxide Nanofluids in a Square Cavity

M. Z. Saghir [1], A. Ahadi [1], A. A. Mohamad [2],
[1] Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
[2] Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Published in 2015

Nanofluids is a new class of fluid consisting of particles in a liquid. Different base liquid has been proposed and the most common one is water. The concentration of these particles can range from 0.1% to 5% or greater. Different numerical models have been proposed to solve this interesting problem. Some scheme assumed the fluid as a single fluid and other assumed as a two phase system consisting of a liquid phase and a solid phase. In this paper we will address the accuracy of the numerical model by proposing a benchmark for numerical modelling of nanofluids. Results in form of temperature and velocity variation as well as a comparison of average Nusselt number will be presented for a range of Rayleigh numbers and particle concentration.