International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90

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International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i c h m t

Numerical study of mixed convection flows in a square lid-driven cavity

utilizing nanofluid☆
Farhad Talebi, Amir Houshang Mahmoudi, Mina Shahi ⁎
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 1 October 2009 A numerical investigation of laminar mixed convection flows through a copper–water nanofluid in a square
lid-driven cavity has been executed. In the present study, the top and bottom horizontal walls are insulated
Keywords: while the vertical walls are maintained at constant but different temperatures. The study has been carried
Nanofluid out for the Rayleigh number 104 to 106, Reynolds number 1 to 100 and the solid volume fraction 0 to 0.05.
Mixed convection The thermal conductivity and effective viscosity of nanofluid have been calculated by Patel and Brinkman
Square lid-driven cavity
models, respectively. The effects of solid volume fraction of nanofluids on hydrodynamic and thermal
Numerical study
characteristics have been investigated and discussed. It is found that at the fixed Reynolds number, the solid
concentration affects on the flow pattern and thermal behavior particularly for a higher Rayleigh number. In
addition it is observed that the effect of solid concentration decreases by the increase of Reynolds number.
© 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction nanoparticles and interaction between nanoparticles and base fluid

The primary limitation of conventional fluids such as water,
ethylene glycol or propylene glycol is their low thermal conductivity.
Therefore in recent years, nanofluids have attracted more attention
for cooling in various industrial applications. Such fluids consist of
suspended nanoparticles which have a better suspension stability
compared to millimetre or micrometer sized ones. Use of metallic
nanoparticles with high thermal conductivity will increase the
effective thermal conductivity of these types of fluid remarkably. For
instance just 0.3% volume fraction of copper nanoparticles with 10 nm
diameter led to an increase of up to 40% in the thermal conductivity of
ethylene glycol [1]. Indeed, when nanosized particles are added to
liquid flow, scalar transport properties can be considerably enhanced.
Lee et al. [2] measured the thermal conductivity of Al2o3–water and
Cu–water nanofluids and indicated that the thermal conductivity of
nanofluids increases with solid volume fraction. He concluded that
any new models of nanofluid thermal conductivity should contain the
effect of surface area and structure dependent behavior as well as the
size effect. The dependence of thermal conductivity of nanoparticles–
fluid mixture was estimated by Xie et al. [3]. Due to the lack of a
sophisticated theory for estimating the thermal conductivity of
nanofluids many models developed that mostly focused on several
parameters, such as: temperature or Brownian motion, geometry of
☆ Communicated by: W.J. Minkowycz.
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mina.shahi@gmail.com (M. Shahi).
etc. The first model is given by Maxwell [4]; he proposed a model to
predict the thermal conductivity of mixtures that contain solid
particles. Maxwell's model shows that the effective thermal conduc-
tivity of suspensions that contain spherical particles increases with
the volume fraction of the solid particles. The proposed model was
valid only for low dense mixtures and for micro sized particles. Thus
several researchers (for example, Yu and Choi [5], Kumar et al. [6],
Prasher et al. [7], Hemanth et al. [8], etc.) tried to improve the
Maxwell's model. Due to the Brownian motion of nanoparticles in
base fluid, a model was proposed by Xu [9] that predicted the thermal
conductivity of nanofluids by considering heat convection between
nanoparticles and fluid. The proposed model is dependent upon the
average size of nanoparticles, fractal dimension, temperature, phys-
ical properties of fluids and concentration of nanoparticles. Patel et al.
[10] have improved the model given by Hemanth et al. [8]. They have
considered three contributions for heat flow: conduction through
liquid and through solid and advection due to Brownian motion of the
particles. This model is able to predict the thermal conductivity over a
wide range of particles size (10–100) nm, particle concentrations (1–
8) %, different base fluids and temperatures.
Considering that each nanofluid exhibits different rheological
properties, various viscosity correlations have been developed for
several nanofluids [11–13]. They have observed that the viscosity of
nanofluid increases with an increase in solid concentration.
Since nanofluid consists of very small sized solid particles,
therefore in low solid concentration it is reasonable to consider
nanofluid as single phase flow [4]. Contrary to numerous experimen-
tal performances there have been few numerical works to study of the
enhancement heat transfer by nanofluid.

0735-1933/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2009.08.013
80 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90

The presented work has been concerned with the mixed convec-
Nomenclature
tion flows of copper–water nanofluid in a square cavity with a moving
lid that moves uniformly in the horizontal plane while all other walls of
cp Specific heat capacity/(J/K)
the cavity are fixed. The natural convection has been induced by
Gr Grashof number, βgH3ΔT/υ2
subjecting the left vertical wall to a higher temperature than right one.
g Gravitational acceleration/(m/s2)
In addition, both the top and bottom walls are insulated. The effective
H Height of cavity/(m)
thermal conductivity of nanofluid has been calculated with a model
k Thermal conductivity/(W/m K)
that was proposed by Patel [10]. To determine the viscosity of
kb Boltzmann′s constant, 1.38065 × 10− 23
nanofluid, a model that was given by Brinkman [11] has been used.
Nu Nusselt number
The consequence of varying the Reynolds number, Rayleigh number
p Pressure/(N/m2)
and the nanoparticle concentration on the hydrodynamic and thermal
P Dimensionless pressure, p/ρnfU20
characteristics have been investigated and discussed.
pr Prandtl number, υf/αf
Ra Rayleigh number, βgH3ΔT/(υα)
Re Reynolds number, ρU0H/μ
T Temperature/(K) 2. Mathematical formulation
u,v Components of velocity/(m/s)
U,V Dimensionless of velocity component, (U = u/U0, Fig. 1 shows a two-dimensional square cavity of length W and
V = v/U0) height H which its aspect ratio is taken to be equal to one unit. The
x,y Cartesian coordinates/(m) cavity is filled with a suspension of copper nanoparticles in water.
X,Y Dimensionless of Cartesian coordinates/(m) The shape and size of solid particles are assumed to be uniform and
W width of cavity/(m) the diameter of them to be equal to 100 nm. Both the vertical walls
are maintained at constant temperature. In order to induce the
buoyancy effect, the left vertical wall is kept at a higher temperature.
The two horizontal walls are insulated and the top wall slides from
Greek letters
left to right with uniform velocity. It is assumed that both the fluid
α Thermal diffusivity, k/(ρcp) (m2/s)
phase and nanoparticles are in thermal equilibrium. Except for the
β Coefficient of volume expansion/(K− 1)
density the properties of nanoparticles and fluid are taken to be
ϕ Solid volume fraction
constant. Table 1 presents thermo physical properties of water and
μ Dynamic viscosity/(Pa s)
copper at the reference temperature. It is further assumed that the
υ Kinematics viscosity/(m2/s)
Boussinesq approximation is valid for buoyancy force. The governing
ρ Density/(kg/m3)
equations (continuity, momentum and energy equations) for a steady,
θ Dimensionless temperature

Subscript
f Fluid
m Average
nf Nanofluid
o Reference state
s solid
w wall

A numerical study of natural convection of copper–water nano-

fluid in a two-dimensional enclosure was conducted by Khanafer et al.
[14]. It was found in any given Grashof number, heat transfer in the
enclosure increased with the volumetric fraction of the copper
nanoparticles in water. Ho et al. [15] presented a two-dimensional
numerical simulation of buoyancy-driven convection in the enclosure
filled with alumina–water nanofluid. The effects of adopting different
formulas for the effective viscosity and thermal conductivity have
been identified. A significant difference was found in the effective
dynamic viscosity enhancement calculated from considered formulas
other than increment of thermal conductivity. Santra et al. [16]
numerically investigated the laminar natural convection heat transfer
Fig. 1. Problem geometry.
in a differentially heated square cavity filled with copper–water
nanofluid. They considered a two parameter power law model for an
incompressible non-Newtonian fluid. Other researches have been
Table 1
conducted that simulate the natural convection heat transfer using
Thermophysical properties of water and copper.
nanofluid in the other geometrical configurations [17–21].
Fluid flow and heat transfer in a cavity filled by pure fluid which is Property Water Copper
driven by buoyancy and shear have been studied extensively in cp 4179 383
literature [22–24]. The most usage of the mixed convection flow with ρ 997.1 8954
lid-driven effect is to include the cooling of the electronic devices, k 0.6 400
β 2.1 × 10− 4 1.67 × 10− 5
lubrication technologies, drying technologies, etc.
 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90 81
!
2 2
two-dimensional laminar and incompressible flow are expressed as ∂u ∂u 1 ∂p ∂ u ∂ u
u +v =− + υnf + ð2Þ
below: ∂x ∂y ρnf ∂x ∂x2 ∂y2

!
∂u ∂v ∂v ∂v 1 ∂p ∂2 v ∂2 v
+ =0 ð1Þ u +v =− + υnf + ð3Þ
∂x ∂y ∂x ∂y ρnf ∂y ∂x2 ∂y2
g h i
+ ðT−T∞ Þ ϕρs;0 βs + ð1−ϕÞρf;0 βf
ρnf

!
∂T ∂T ∂2 T ∂2 T
u +v = αnf + ð4Þ
∂x ∂y ∂x2 ∂y2

where αnf = knf/(ρcp)nf.

The effective density of nanofluid at the reference temperature can
be defined as:

ρnf;0 = ð1−ϕÞρf;0 + ϕρs;0 ð5Þ

Table 2
Comparison of results obtained in this study by de Vahl Davis [27].

Nu

Present de Vahl Davis [27] Error (%)

4
Ra = 10 2.248 2.242 0.267
Ra = 105 4.5028 4.523 0.447
Ra = 106 9.147 9.035 1.24

Fig. 3. Comparison between a) horizontal component of velocity b) vertical component

Fig. 2. Grid study. of velocity with those of de Ghia et al. at Re = 100 [28].
82 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90

which ρnf,0, ρf,0, ρs,0 and ϕ are the density of nanofluid, density of base The effective thermal conductivity of nanofluid was given by Patel
fluid, density of nanoparticle and volume fraction of the nanoparticles, et al. [10] as follows:
respectively.
The heat capacitance of nanofluid can be given as:

keff k p Ap Ap
=1+ + ckp Pe ð7Þ
ðρcp Þnf = ð1−ϕÞðρcp Þf + ϕðρcp Þs : ð6Þ kf kf Af k f Af

Fig. 4. The effects of solid volume fraction and Rayleigh number on the stream line for Re = 1 a) Ra = 1.47 × 104, ϕ = 0 b) Ra = 1.47 × 104, ϕ = 5% c) Ra = 1.47 × 105, ϕ = 0 d)
Ra = 1.47 × 105, ϕ = 5% e) Ra = 1.47 × 106, ϕ = 0 f) Ra = 1.47 × 106, ϕ = 5%.
 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90 83

where c is constant and must be determined experimentally, Ap/Af taken as 2 Å for water. Also up is the Brownian motion velocity of
and Pe here is defined as: nanoparticle which is defined as:

Ap dp ϕ up dp 2kb T
= ; Pe = : ð8Þ up = ð9Þ
Af df ð1−ϕÞ αf πμf d2p
Where dp is diameter of solid particles that in this study is
assumed to be equal to 100 nm, df is the molecular size of liquid that is where kb is the Boltzmann constant.

Fig. 5. The effects of solid volume fraction and Rayleigh number on the stream line for Re = 10 a) Ra = 1.47 × 104, ϕ = 0 b) Ra = 1.47 × 104, ϕ = 5% c) Ra = 1.47 × 105, ϕ = 0
d) Ra = 1.47 × 105, ϕ = 5% e) Ra = 1.47 × 106, ϕ = 0 f) Ra = 1.47 × 106, ϕ = 5%.
84 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90

The effective viscosity of nanofluid was introduced by Brinkman The boundary conditions are in the following forms:
[11] as below,
u=v=0 at x = 0; W 0≤y≤H;
μf u=v=0 at y = 0 0≤x≤W ð11Þ
μnf = : ð10Þ
ð1−ϕÞ2:5 u = U0 v = 0 at y = H 0≤x≤W

Fig. 6. The effects of solid volume fraction and Rayleigh number on the stream line for Re = 100 a) Ra = 1.47 × 104, ϕ = 0 b) Ra = 1.47 × 104, ϕ = 5% c) Ra = 1.47 × 105, ϕ = 0
d) Ra = 1.47 × 105, ϕ = 5% e) Ra = 1.47 × 106, ϕ = 0 f) Ra = 1.47 × 106, ϕ = 5%.
 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90 85

T = TH at x = 0 0≤y≤H; In order to estimate the heat transfer enhancement, we have

calculated Nu (Nusselt number) and Num (average Nusselt number) for
T = TC at x = W 0≤y≤H; the vertical hot wall as:
ð12Þ
∂T
∂y
= 0 at y = 0; H 0≤x≤W: NuðXÞ =
knf ∂θ
kf ∂X
j X =0
ð13Þ

Fig. 7. The effect of solid volume fraction on the isotherms at various Rayleigh and Reynolds numbers: a) Re = 1, Ra = 1.47 × 104 b) Re = 1, Ra = 1.47 × 106 c) Re = 10, Ra = 1.47 × 104
d) Re = 10, Ra = 1.47 × 106 e) Re = 100, Ra = 1.47 × 104 f) Re = 100, Ra = 1.47 × 106.
86 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90

W
∫0 NuðXÞdX Therefore using the above parameters leads to dimensionless
Num = W
ð14Þ forms of the governing equations as below:
∫0 dX
∂U ∂V
Eqs. (1)–(4) can be converted to the dimensionless forms by + =0 ð16Þ
∂X ∂Y
definition of the following parameters as: !
x y u v T−TC p ∂U ∂U ∂P 1 ρf 1 ∂2 U ∂2 U
X= ; Y= ; U= ; V= ; θ= ; P= : ð15Þ U +V =− + + ð17Þ
H H U0 U0 TH −TC ρnf U02 ∂X ∂Y ∂X Re ρnf ð1−ϕÞ2:5 ∂X 2 ∂Y 2

Fig. 8. The effect of solid volume fraction on the vertical component of velocity at the middle section of cavity for various Re and Ra a) Re = 1, Ra = 1.47 × 104 b) Re = 1,
Ra = 1.47 × 105 c) Re = 1, Ra = 1.47 × 106 d) Re = 10, Ra = 1.47 × 104 e) Re = 10, Ra = 1.47 × 105 f) Re = 10, Ra = 1.47 × 106 g) Re = 100, Ra = 1.47 × 104 h) Re = 100, Ra = 1.47 × 105
i) Re = 100, Ra = 1.47 × 106.
 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90 87

3. Numerical method

The above equations have been solved numerically based on the

finite volume method using a collocated grid system. The resulting
discretized equations have been solved iteratively through strongly
implicit procedure (SIP) [25]. The SIMPLE algorithm [26] has been
adopted for the pressure velocity coupling. In this study we have used
a non-uniform grid mesh which is finer in vicinity of horizontal walls
in order to increase the accuracy of the results. To allow grid-
independent examination, the numerical procedure has been con-
ducted for different grid resolutions. Fig. 2 demonstrates the influence
of number of grid points for a test case of fluid confined within the
present configuration. From this figure it is clear that the grid system
of 41 × 41 is fine enough to obtain accurate results. We therefore
adopted a grid system of 41 × 41.
First the governing equations have been solved for the natural
convection flow in an enclosed cavity filled by pure fluid, in order to
compare the results with those obtained by de Vahl Davis [27]. This
comparison revealed good agreements between results which are
shown in Table 2. Another test for validation of this numerical method
has been performed for the lid-driven square cavity filled by pure fluid
(see Fig. 3). In this test case, the results have been compared with
those of Ghia et al. [28].

4. Discussion and results

Two-dimensional mixed convection is studied for a copper–water

nanofluid in a square lid-driven cavity for Ra = 104–106, Re = 1–102
and solid volume fraction 0 to 0.05. Fig. 4 illustrates the stream lines at
Ra = 1.47 × 104–1.47 × 106 and Re = 1 for a pure fluid and nanofluid
with ϕ = 5%. Fig. 4(a) demonstrates that the effect of the natural
convection flow dominates lid-driven flow for Ra = 1.47 × 104. The
stream lines are mostly symmetric with respect to the center of the
cavity. As can be seen from Fig. 4(b), the solid volume fraction does
not have effect on the flow pattern but it augments the flow intensity.
So that the value of the stream function at the center of cavity gets
from − 0.8 to − 1.1 for a 5% concentration. As the value of Rayleigh
number increases to 1.47 × 105, the intensity of buoyancy and hence
the intensity of natural convection within the cavity increases as
shown in Fig. 4(c). In this case, as the solid concentration increases the
value of the stream function increases by about 41% at the center of
the cavity (see Fig. 4(d)). Fig. 4(e) displays that the effect of lid-driven
flow is negligible for Ra = 1.47 × 106. In this case, the value of the
stream function increases by about 66% as a result of an increase about
5% in the solid concentration as shown in Fig. 4(f). Fig. 5(a)–(f)
demonstrates the stream lines of both pure fluid and nanofluid for
Re = 10 and for the various Rayleigh numbers. As can be seen the
increase in Re augments the effect of lid-driven and hence forced
convection flow. But it gradually vanishes with increase in the value of
Rayleigh number, so that at Ra = 1.47 × 106 the natural convection
becomes dominant mode as can be found from comparison between
Fig. 5(a), (c) and (e). For smaller Rayleigh number, the motion of the
upper lid stretches the stream lines towards the right vertical wall and
it causes the asymmetric flow pattern. Increase in solid concentration
enhances the value of the stream function by about 25%, 47% and 66%
Fig. 8 (continued). respectively at Ra = 1.47 × 104 to Ra = 1.47 × 106 as seen in Fig. 5(b),
(d) and (f). The stream lines for Re = 100 at various Rayleigh num-
!
∂V ∂V ∂P 1 ρf 1 ∂2 V ∂2 V bers and for two case of pure fluid and nanofluid are presented in
U +V =− + + ð18Þ Fig. 6(a)–(f). As can be seen from Fig. 6(a) for Ra = 1.47 × 104 the
∂X ∂Y ∂Y Re ρnf ð1−ϕÞ2:5
∂X 2
∂Y 2
  effect of lid-driven flow is more dominant. In this case the increment
Ra ρf;0 ρβ of solid concentration does not have considerable effect on the flow
+ 1−ϕ + ϕ s s θ
Re2 Pr ρnf;0 ρf βf pattern because the buoyancy effect is insignificant. Increase in
Rayleigh number enhances the buoyancy effect and so the intensity of
! flow; but the dominant effect of the force convection is still observed.
k ðρcp Þf 1
2 2
∂θ ∂θ ∂ θ ∂ θ The effect of the presence of nanoparticle on the thermal behavior,
U +V = nf + : ð19Þ
∂X ∂Y kf ðρcp Þnf Re⋅Pr ∂X 2 ∂Y 2 temperature distribution contours for pure are overlaid with that for
88 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90

nanofluid with ϕ of 0.05. The results for Re = 1 to 100 at the two
Rayleigh numbers are illustrated in Fig. 7. As can be seen at the lower
Rayleigh number, the solid concentration has more effect to increase
the heat penetration; because the conduction heat transfer has more
effective role at the lower Rayleigh number. On the other hand the
increase of the effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluid with
solid concentration leads to enhance the conduction mode. But the
effect of conduction heat transfer decreases with the increase in Ra, so
the solid concentration has a smaller effect on the thermal
distribution. Fig. 8 demonstrates the effect of solid concentration on
the vertical velocity distribution for various Reynolds and Rayleigh
numbers. It is obvious from this figure that for Re = 1 and
Ra = 1.47 × 104 the effect of the buoyancy predominates the forced
convection effect. Upward flow and downward flow are symmetric

Fig. 9. The effect of solid volume fraction on the horizontal component of velocity at the middle section of cavity for various Re and Ra a) Re = 1, Ra = 1.47 × 104 b) Re = 1,
Ra = 1.47 × 105 c) Re = 1, Ra = 1.47 × 106 d) Re = 10, Ra = 1.47 × 104 e) Re = 10, Ra = 1.47 × 105 f) Re = 10, Ra = 1.47 × 106 g) Re = 100, Ra = 1.47 × 104 h) Re = 100, Ra = 1.47 × 105
i) Re = 100, Ra = 1.47 × 106.
 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90 89

is no symmetric behavior respect to the center point of the cavity. The

increase in the solid concentration therefore does not have consid-
erable effect on the intensity of flow; so that as the solid volume
fraction increases from 0 to 5%, the enhancement of the vertical
velocity near the wall is approximately 28%. But increase in a Ra
suppresses the effect of lid-driven flow. At Re = 100 the flow pattern
varies considerably, so that for Ra = 1.47 × 104 the flow is nearly
transformed to the lid-driven cavity flow and hence the solid

Fig. 9 (continued).

with respect to the center of the cavity. As can be seen the increase in
solid concentration leads to enhance the flow intensity. So that the
maximum value of the velocity is obtained at the maximum solid
concentration. The increase of both Rayleigh number and solid
concentration augments the strength of buoyancy. So at higher
Rayleigh number, the solid concentration has more effect to enhance
the velocity with respect to the pure fluid. The increase in Re, Fig. 10. The average Nusselt number at left wall for the various Rayleigh numbers a)
augments the effect of forced convection. So for Ra = 1.47 × 104, there Re = 1 b) Re = 10 c) Re = 100.
90 F. Talebi et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 79–90
concentration does not affect on the velocity significantly. But with
the increase in Ra, it is observed a mixed effect of buoyancy and lid-
driven within the cavity. The effect of the solid concentration on the
horizontal velocity distribution for various Reynolds and Rayleigh
numbers is shown in Fig. 9. From this figure, it can be found that as
solid volume fraction increases from 0 to 5% for Re = 1, the horizontal
component of velocity increases by about 37% for Ra = 1.47 × 104 and
about 52% for Ra = 1.47 × 106. It must be noted that for Re = 10 and
Ra = 1.47 × 105 the lid-driven flow has more effect on the horizontal
velocity as compared to the vertical one. Fig. 10 illustrates the variation
of the average Nusselt number on the left wall (hot wall). The increase
of the solid concentration augments the effective thermal conductivity
and hence the energy transfer. The increase of the solid concentration
also augments the flow intensity. Both of two factors enhance the
average Nusselt number with solid concentration. The increase of
Rayleigh number also increases the heat transfer rate and hence
average Nusselt number. It is obvious that at higher Ra the solid
concentration has more effect on the average Nusselt number which is
similar to those of Figs. 8 and 9. So that at Re = 1, the increase of the
solid concentration from 0 to 5% enhances the average Nusselt number
by about 44% for Ra = 1.47 × 104 and about 52% for Ra = 1.47 × 106.
5. Conclusion
The model was applied to simulate the mixed convection flows of
copper–water nanofluid in a square cavity with a moving lid that
moves uniformly in the horizontal plane while all other walls of the
cavity are fixed. The natural convection has been induced by
subjecting the left vertical wall to the higher temperature than the
right one. In addition, both the top and bottom walls are insulated. The
results are presented for the Reynolds number 1 to 100, Rayleigh
number 104 to 106 and for the different values of solid concentration
(0 to 5%). In this study the effect of solid volume fraction, Rayleigh
number and Reynolds number on the flow pattern and heat
characteristics were investigated. The results showed at a given
Reynolds number and Rayleigh number, solid concentration has a
positive effect on heat transfer enhancement. The results also
indicated that for a given Reynolds number the increase in the solid
concentration augments the stream function particularly at the higher
Rayleigh number. This point is also observed in the computation of the
average Nusselt number. But the increase in Re decreases the effect of
solid concentration on the stream function particularly for lower Ra.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the talented office of Semnan University.
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