International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612

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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmecsci

Numerical simulation of natural convection heat transfer in a trapezoidal

enclosure filled with nanoparticles
Sheikha M. Al-Weheibi a, M.M. Rahman a,∗, M.S. Alam b, K. Vajravelu c
a
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, P. O. Box 36, Al-Khod P.C. 123, Muscat, Oman
b
Department of Mathematics, Jagannath University, Dhaka 1100, Bangladesh
c
Department of Mathematics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA

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

Keywords: In this paper, we have investigated unsteady natural convection flow and heat transfer inside a trapezoidal
Nanofluids enclosure filled with nine different types of nanofluids having various shapes of the nanoparticle following Tiwari
Natural convection and Das mathematical model. The left and right walls of the enclosure are kept at different temperatures, while the
Unsteady flow
top and bottom walls of the cavity are thermally insulated. The Galerkin weighted residual based finite element
Trapezoidal enclosure
method has been employed to solve the governing partial differential equations after converting them into a
Finite element method
nondimensional form. The simulation is carried out through the pde solver COMSOL Multiphysics with Matlab
interface. Comparison with the previously published result is made for a special case and an excellent agreement
is found. The effects of various model parameters such as the Rayleigh number, the aspect ratio, the volume
fraction and the shape factor of the nanoparticles on streamlines and isotherms have been displayed graphically
and discussed. The heat transfer augmentation for various combinations of pertinent parameters has also been
presented in light of the average Nusselt number on the left heated wall.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Heat transfer and fluid flow due to natural convection in enclosures
have been extensively studied using analytical, numerical and exper-
imental techniques because of the wide variety of applications to en-
gineering technology such as nuclear reactor system, cooling of elec-
tronic devices, double pane windows, solar thermal collectors, micro-
electromechanical systems (MEMS) and so on. Enhancement of heat
transfer performance in these systems is an essential topic from an en-
ergy saving perspective as well as for the proper functionality of these
devices. Lorenzini and Biserni [1] studied the vaporation technique to
cool the electronic components by using water as a coolant. They have
shown that it could be one of the effective methods for the removal of
high thermal fluxes in different geometric conditions. Lorenzini et al.
[2] investigated geometric optimization of X-shaped cavities and path-
ways according to Bejan’s theory. They have shown that the perfor-
mance of the X-shaped pathways increased monotonically with the aug-
mentation of the pathways thermal conductivity: in correspondence to
the highest possible value of dimensionless thermal conductivity, the
X-shaped conductive pathways presented approximately the same heat
removal capacity of the X-shaped cavities. However, low thermal con-
ductivity of common fluids such as water and oil is very difficult to
satisfy the performance of such systems, and their low thermal proper-
ties is a primary limitation of high-efficiency heat transfer equipment.
To overcome this drawback, an innovative way to enhance heat trans-
fer is by using nanoparticles in the base fluid (see Choi [3]). Khanafer
et al. [4] found that the suspended nanoparticles in base fluid substan-
tially increased the heat transfer rate. Hwang et al. [5] investigated the
buoyancy-driven heat transfer of alumina-water nanofluid in a rectan-
gular cavity. They showed that the ratio of heat transfer coefficient of
nanofluid to that of base fluid is decreased as the size of nanoparticles
increases, or the average temperature of nanofluid is decreased. In ad-
dition, Putra et al. [6] conducted an experiment to determine the heat
transfer due to natural convection in a cylindrical enclosure filled with
copper–water, and alumina–water nanofluids. However, they found that
the definite coalescence and deterioration of nanoparticles in the nat-
ural convection flow for high Rayleigh numbers. The unsteady phe-
nomenon was the main reason for the considerable decrease of heat
transfer strength in their experiment.
Due to the importance of nanofluids in various fields significant re-
search on nanofluid flow and heat transfer have been done in differ-
ent geometries considering various flow and thermal conditions [7–15].
Alam et al. [16] performed finite element simulation for heatline visual-
ization of natural convective heat transfer flow inside a prismatic enclo-
sure with various thermal boundary conditions. The top inclined walls

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mansurdu@yahoo.com, mansur@squ.edu.om (M.M. Rahman).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2017.08.005
Received 28 April 2017; Received in revised form 3 August 2017; Accepted 8 August 2017
Available online 10 August 2017
0020-7403/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S.M. Al-Weheibi et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612

For example, the electrical components are frequently energized inter-

Nomenclature mittently and generate heat in an unsteady manner. The heat transfer
process and influencing factors of unsteady natural convection are more
AR aspect ratio complex than those of steady natural convection, and studies are very
Cp specific heat [J.kg−1 K−1 ] scarce on unsteady natural convection in the nanofluids-filled enclo-
g gravitational acceleration [m.s−2 ] sure. Also most of the research works have considered the problem of
k thermal conductivity [W.m−1 .K−1 ] natural convection heat transfer of nanofluids in square or rectangular
L enclosure length [m] enclosures. But in reality, natural convection heat transfer of nanofluids
n shape factor of nanoparticles in a trapezoidal enclosure is a prototype of many industrial applica-
Nu Nusselt number tions such as solar energy collector. Nanofluids have many advantages
p dimensional fluid pressure [Pa] as compared to conventional fluids which make them suitable for use
P dimensionless fluid pressure in solar collectors such as (i) absorption of solar energy will be maxi-
Pr Prandtl number mized with change of the size, shape, material and volume fraction of the
Ra Rayleigh number nanoparticles; (ii) the suspended nanoparticles increase the surface area
t dimensional time but decrease the heat capacity of the fluid due to the very small particle
T temperature [K] size; (iii) the suspended nanoparticles enhance the thermal conductiv-
u, v dimensional velocity components [m.s−1 ] ity which results improvement in efficiency of heat transfer systems; (iv)
U, V dimensionless velocities properties of fluid can be changed by varying concentration of nanopar-
x, y dimensional coordinates [m] ticles; (v) extremely small size of nanoparticles ideally allows them to
X, Y dimensionless coordinates pass through pumps; and (vi) nanofluid can be optically selective (high
𝛼 thermal diffusivity [m2 .s−1 ] absorption in the solar range and low emittance in the infrared).
𝛽 thermal expansion coefficient [K−1 ] Tyagi et al. [30] found that by mixing the nanoparticles into the
ϒ general dependent variable working fluids, the energy collector efficiency increased remarkably
𝜇 dynamic viscosity [kg.m−1 .s−1 ] even for low values of the volume fraction of the nanoparticles. In light
𝜐 kinematic viscosity [m2 .s−1 ] of the above numerous advantages of nanofluid-based solar thermal col-
𝜌 density [kg.m−3 ] lectors, several geometrical shapes of solar thermal collectors, such as
𝜃 dimensionless temperature rectangular, circular and triangular shapes have been considered in the
𝜙 nano-particle volume fraction literature (see [32–34]). Uddin et al. [35] investigated unsteady mixed
𝜏 dimensionless time convection within a lid-driven trapezoidal enclosure induced by uniform
and non-uniform heating from below. It was determined that the heat
subscripts
and mass transfer within the enclosure was higher for uniform heating of
ave average
the bottom wall. Job and Gunakala [36] studied unsteady magnetohy-
c cold wall
drodynamic free convection nanofluid flows within a wavy trapezoidal
bf base fluid
enclosure with viscous and Joule dissipation effects. It was found that
h hot wall
the rate of heat transfer increased with an increase in the amplitude of
nf nanofluid
the wavy bottom wall. It was also noted that the transfer of heat at the
sp solid particle
bottom wall becomes less efficient over time.
To the best of our knowledge, the time dependent heat and fluid flow
of the enclosure were considered at constant low temperature, two ver- in a trapezoidal-shaped solar thermal collector filled with nine different
tical walls were adiabatic whereas the bottom wall was heated isother- types of nanofluids with varying shapes of the nanoparticles has not
mally as well as non-isothermally. The simulated results were displayed been studied yet. Therefore, in this study a numerical study has been
through streamlines, isotherms and heatlines to examine the effects of performed for a trapezoidal-shape solar collector filled with different
buoyancy on the flow and thermal fields. The Rayleigh number’s effects types of nanofluids with various shapes of nanoparticles. Higher heat
on average temperature and velocity fields were also calculated and dis- transfer rate is required in a solar thermal collector. Here the introduc-
played graphically. The results indicated that for a uniformly heated tion of nanofluids may be a possible solution. The obtained numerical
bottom wall both the average temperature and the average velocity in results also provide information that may be useful for the design opti-
the cavity were higher compared to the non-uniformly heated bottom mization as well as for the thermal performance enhancement of energy
wall. Al-Kalbani et al. [17] studied buoyancy induced heat transfer flow systems. In the next section, the physical model of the considered prob-
inside a tilted square enclosure filled with nanofluids in the presence of lem is discussed in detail.
oriented magnetic field. Two opposite walls of the enclosure were insu-
lated and the other two walls were kept at different temperatures. The 2. Formulation of the problem
results indicated that an increment in the Rayleigh number and nanopar-
ticle volume fraction increases the heat transfer rate in a significant way, 2.1. Physical model
whereas, an increment in the Hartmann number decreases the overall
heat transfer rate. The critical geometry inclination angle at which the We consider an unsteady, laminar, incompressible two-dimensional
maximum heat transfer rate was achieved depends on the nanoparti- natural convection flow and heat transfer in a trapezoidal enclosure of
cle volume fraction as well as on the magnetic field orientation. It is length L, height H filled with nanofluids. We assume that the x-axis is
worth mentioning here that many references for nanofluids can also be measured along the bottom wall of the cavity and the y-axis is normal
found in the books [18–20] and in the review papers [21–25] and the to it. The geometry and coordinate systems are schematically shown in
references therein. Fig. 1. The top and bottom walls are insulated and nanofluids are isother-
However, most of the published works are concerned with the analy- mally heated and cooled by the left and right side walls of the cavity at
sis of steady natural convection heat transfer of nanofluids in the enclo- uniform temperatures of Th and Tc ,respectively. Under all situations, Th
sure, whereas, unsteady natural convection has a wider application and > Tc is maintained.
research significance. Unsteady natural convection heat transfer prob- In our study, we have taken water (H2 O), engine oil (EO) and
lem is more frequently encountered in microchannels [26,27], bioengi- Kerosene (Ke) as base fluids whereas copper (Cu), aluminum oxide
neering [28], chemical engineering [29], solar energy field [30,31] etc. (Al2 O3 ), and Cobalt (Co) as nanoparticles. The choices of these base

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S.M. Al-Weheibi et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612

In this context Tiwari and Das [37] stated that the superior character-
istics of the nanofluid allow it to behave more like a fluid rather than
the conventional solid–fluid mixtures; as a consequence the modified
single-phase model is more convenient than the two-phase model if the
main interest is focused on the heat transfer process.
In many engineering applications (ink-jets, dispensers, slot die
coaters, screen prints, lamination units, transfer robots, conveyor belts)
laminar flow is often utilized for the protection (or quality) of prod-
ucts that are extremely sensitive to particle contamination during trans-
ferring, filling and packaging. Boungiorno [38] has shown that the
nanoparticles move homogeneously with the fluid even in the presence
of turbulent eddies and concluded that the effect of turbulence inten-
sity on the nanofluid is doubtful. In this study we considered only the
laminar flow for possible applications of nanofluid in a solar thermal
collector.
Fig. 1. Schematic view of the physical model.

2.3. Thermal and physical properties of nanofluids

fluids are based on their practical applications in various fields. Water
is one of the heavily used fluids in many engineering applications such Thermal and physical properties of nanofluids are the properties
as solar thermal collector, nuclear reactor (PWR), cooling systems etc. which are important to enhance the thermal performance of nanofluids.
On the other hand engine oil and kerosene are also used extensively in These are viscosity, density, thermal diffusivity, heat capacity, thermal
many thermal engineering applications. In addition to these the ther- conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient. Thermal performance
mophysical properties of them are also available in the literature. of solar collectors mainly depends on how thermal properties behave in
It is also assumed that thermal equilibrium exists between the base varied operating conditions. Operating parameters are variation in tem-
fluids and nanoparticles, and no slip occurs between the two media. It is perature, ambient conditions, type of base fluid, particle size, shape of
good to mention that nanoparticles are easily fluidized because of their the nanoparticles and volume concentration. Considering all these pa-
little diameter. We treated nanofluid as a fluid containing nanoparticles rameters, selection of appropriate nanofluid is necessary for optimum
as species of base fluid. Thus, consideration of thermal equilibrium and performance. The following formulas have been used to compute the
no-slip between the two-media is reasonable. The physical properties of thermal and physical properties of the nanofluids under considerations:
the nanofluids are considered to be constant except the density varia- The effective viscosity of the nanofluid may be expressed in the fol-
tion in the body force term of the momentum equation, which is esti- lowing form (Brinkman [40])
mated by the Boussinesq approximation and is valid when the variations
of temperature and density within the flow domain are small usually, 𝜇𝑛𝑓 = 𝜇𝑏𝑓 (1 − 𝜙)−2.5 (5)
ΔT = Th − Tc is less than 15 °C. The gravitational acceleration acts in the where 𝜙 is the nanoparticles volume fraction. The nanoparticle volume
negative y-direction. All solid boundaries are assumed to be rigid no-slip fraction represents a number that is defined as the volume of nanopar-
walls. Basically, this type of cavity filled with nanofluids is modeled as ticles divided by the volume of the mixture prior to mixing. The consid-
a solar thermal collector. ered nanofluid model (1)–(4) is a homogenized fluid model in which vis-
cosity depends on the nanoparticles volume fraction. It is good to men-
2.2. Mathematical model
tion that Eq. (5) can be obtained from a differential model; Eq. (2.5) of
Phan-Thien and Pham [41] in which a dilute suspension of rigid spheres
Within the framework of the afore-mentioned assumptions, the gov-
was considered, giving rise to a Newtonian fluid of viscosity (1 + 2.4𝜙),
erning equations for the present study are expressed in dimensional form
and then the process was kept on repeating for a dilute sphere of a larger
as follows (for details see Tiwari and Das [37])
size. At the end they ended up with Eq. (5). The implication was that
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑣 the maximum volume fraction can go up to 1. But for a normal sus-
+ =0 (1)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 pension Eq. (5) works well at dilute volume fraction (𝜙 < <1). Xuan
( ) ( 2 ) and Li [42] have experimentally determined the apparent viscosity of
𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑝 𝜕 𝑢 𝜕2 𝑢
𝜌𝑛𝑓 +𝑢 +𝑣 =− + 𝜇𝑛𝑓 + (2) the transformer oil–water nanofluid, and water–copper nanofluid in the
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥 𝜕 𝑥2 𝜕 𝑦2
temperature range of 20– 50 °C. Their experimental results show rela-
( ) ( ) tively good agreement with Brinkman’s theory, Eq. (5).
𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑣 𝜕𝑝 𝜕2 𝑣 𝜕2 𝑣
𝜌𝑛𝑓 +𝑢 +𝑣 =− + 𝜇𝑛𝑓 + + (𝜌𝛽)𝑛𝑓 𝑔(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑐 ) The effective density of nanofluid is given as [37]
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕 𝑥2 𝜕 𝑦2
(3) 𝜌𝑛𝑓 = (1 − 𝜙)𝜌𝑏𝑓 + 𝜙𝜌𝑠𝑝 (6)
( ) ( )
𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇 𝜕2 𝑇 𝜕2 𝑇 The thermal diffusivity of the nanofluid is given by [37]
(𝜌𝐶𝑝)𝑛𝑓 +𝑢 +𝑣 = 𝑘𝑛𝑓 + (4)
𝜕𝑡 𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦 𝜕 𝑥2 𝜕 𝑦2
𝑘𝑛𝑓
The symbols carry their usual meanings as listed in the nomencla- 𝛼𝑛𝑓 = (7)
(𝜌𝐶𝑝)𝑛𝑓
ture. It is good to mention that the model of Tiwari and Das [37] is a
single-phase model where both the fluid phase and the solid particles are The heat capacitance of the nanofluid is given by [19]
in thermal equilibrium state and flow with the same local velocity. Al-
(𝜌𝐶𝑝)𝑛𝑓 = (1 − 𝜙)(𝜌𝐶𝑝)𝑏𝑓 + 𝜙(𝜌𝐶𝑝)𝑠𝑝 (8)
though Buongiorno [38] investigated that several slip mechanisms spe-
cially the Brownian motion and thermophoresis may coexist with the Accurate modeling of the effective thermal conductivity is one of the
main flow of nanofluids in a two-phase model in which fluid and solid big constraints in studying heat transfer enhancement using nanofluids.
phases are taken into account in the heat transfer process of nanoflu- There are several effective thermal conductivity models in nanofluids
ids. Khanafer et al. [4] and Jou and Tzeng [39] have criticized that in (see Uddin et al. [25]). Maxwell [43] reported that the effective ther-
the absence of any proper theoretical studies and experimental data, the mal conductivity of suspensions containing spherical particles increases
macroscopic two-phase model is not applicable for analyzing nanofluids. with the increase of the volume fraction of the solid particles. On the

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S.M. Al-Weheibi et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612

Table 1
Different shapes of nanoparticles ([46]).

Shape factor Sphericity Shape Geometry

n Ψ

3 1 Spheres

4.9 0.62 Cylinders

3.7 0.81 Bricks

5.7 0.52 Platelets

8.6 0.36 Blades

other hand, Hamilton and Crosser [44] developed a model for the effec- 2.5. Dimensionless governing equations
tive thermal conductivity of two-component mixtures taking into con-
sideration the liquid and solid particle thermal conductivities, particle Dimensional analysis is one of the most important mathematical
volume fraction and an empirical scaling factor to account for the differ- tools in the study of fluid mechanics. It has some advantages. Non-
ent shapes of the particles. O’ Brien [45] developed an effective thermal dimensionalization gives freedom to any system irrespective of their
conductivity for a composite material as a function of concentration. material properties. It also reduces the number and complexity of ex-
Since one of the objectives of the present study is to investigate the de- perimental variables that affect a given physical phenomena. Dimen-
pendencies of the heat transfer intensification on the nanoparticles vol- sional analysis determines the model parameters that control the whole
ume fraction and the shape of the nanoparticles, we have considered the system. The results become independent on the size of the geometry.
effective conductivity model of Hamilton and Crosser [44] as follows: Before doing experiment one can get insight of the physical problem.
𝑘𝑛𝑓 𝑘𝑠𝑝 + (𝑛 − 1)𝑘𝑏𝑓 − (𝑛 − 1)(𝑘𝑏𝑓 − 𝑘𝑠𝑝 )𝜙 Now we introduce the following non-dimensional variables:
= (9) 𝑥 𝑦 𝑢𝐿 ⎫ 𝑣𝐿
𝑘𝑏𝑓 𝑘𝑠𝑝 + (𝑛 − 1)𝑘𝑏𝑓 + (𝑘𝑏𝑓 − 𝑘𝑠𝑝 )𝜙 𝑋= , 𝑌 = , 𝑈= , 𝑉 = ,
𝐿 𝐿 𝛼𝑏𝑓 ⎪ 𝛼𝑏𝑓
𝑡𝛼𝑏𝑓 𝑝𝐿2 ⎪ 𝑇 −𝑇𝑐
where n is the nanoparticle shape factor. It is defined by n = 3/Ψ, where 𝜏 = 𝐿2 , 𝑃 = , 𝜃= ,
𝜌𝑏𝑓 𝛼𝑏𝑓
2 ⎬ 𝑇ℎ −𝑇𝑐 (16)
Ψ is the sphericity defined as the ratio between the surface area of the 𝜐 𝑔 𝛽 (𝑇 − 𝑇 )𝐿 3 ⎪
sphere and the surface area of the real particle with equal volumes. Pr = 𝛼𝑏𝑓 , 𝑅𝑎 = 𝑏𝑓 𝜐 ℎ𝛼 𝑐 , 𝐴𝑅 = 𝐻
𝐿⎭
⎪
𝑏𝑓 𝑏𝑓 𝑏𝑓
The values of Ψ are evaluated experimentally 0.62, 0.81, 0.52 and 0.36
Using (16) into (1)–(4) we obtain the dimensionless governing equa-
for cylinders, bricks, platelets and blades nanoparticle respectively (see
tions as follows
[46]). For different values of n we have different shape of nanoparticles
𝜕𝑈 𝜕𝑉
as shown in Table 1. + =0 (17)
𝜕𝑋 𝜕𝑌
The thermal expansion coefficient of nanofluid is given by ( ) ( ) ( 2 )
𝜕𝑈 𝜕𝑈 𝜕𝑈 𝜌𝑏𝑓 𝜕𝑃 𝜐𝑛𝑓 𝜕 𝑈 𝜕2 𝑈
(𝜌𝛽)𝑛𝑓 = (1 − 𝜙)(𝜌𝛽)𝑏𝑓 + 𝜙(𝜌𝛽)𝑠𝑝 . (10) +𝑈 +𝑉 =− + Pr + (18)
𝜕𝜏 𝜕𝑋 𝜕𝑌 𝜌𝑛𝑓 𝜕𝑋 𝜐𝑏𝑓 𝜕𝑋 2 𝜕𝑌 2
The thermo-physical properties such as specific heat, density, ther- ( )
mal conductivity, dynamic viscosity, coefficient of volume expansion, 𝜕𝑉 𝜕𝑉 𝜕𝑉 𝜌bf 𝜕𝑃
+𝑈 +𝑉 =− +
thermal diffusivity and Prandtl number of the base fluids and nanopar- 𝜕𝜏 𝜕𝑋 𝜕𝑌 𝜌nf 𝜕𝑌
ticles are tabulated in Table 2 ([15,47]). ( ) ( ) (19)
𝜐nf 𝜕2 𝑉 𝜕2 𝑉 (𝜌𝛽)nf
Pr + + Ra Pr 𝜃
𝜐bf 𝜕𝑋 2 𝜕𝑌 2 𝛽bf 𝜌nf
2.4. Initial and boundary conditions
( )( 2 )
𝜕𝜃 𝜕𝜃 𝜕𝜃 𝛼𝑛𝑓 𝜕 𝜃 𝜕2 𝜃
+𝑈 +𝑉 = + (20)
For t ≤ 0; 𝜕𝜏 𝜕𝑋 𝜕𝑌 𝛼𝑏𝑓 𝜕𝑋 2 𝜕𝑌 2

𝑢 = 𝑣 = 0, 𝑇 = 0, 𝑝 = 0 (11) For 𝜏 ≤ 0, the non-dimensional initial conditions become

For t > 0; 𝑈 = 𝑉 = 0, 𝜃 = 0, 𝑃 = 0 (21)

𝜕𝑇 For 𝜏 > 0, the non-dimensional boundary conditions become

At the bottom wall ∶ 𝑢 = 0, 𝑣 = 0, =0 (12)
𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝜃
At the bottom wall ∶ 𝑈 = 0, 𝑉 = 0, =0 (22)
𝜕𝑦
𝜕𝑇
At the top wall ∶ 𝑢 = 0, 𝑣 = 0, =0 (13) 𝜕𝜃
𝜕𝑦 At the top wall ∶ 𝑈 = 0, 𝑉 = 0, =0 (23)
𝜕𝑦
At the lef t wall ∶ 𝑢 = 0, 𝑣 = 0, 𝑇 = 𝑇ℎ (14) At the lef t wall ∶ 𝑈 = 0, 𝑉 = 0, 𝜃 = 1 (24)

At the right wall ∶ 𝑢 = 0, 𝑣 = 0, 𝑇 = 𝑇𝑐 (15) At the right wall ∶ 𝑈 = 0, 𝑉 = 0, 𝜃 = 0 (25)

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Table 2
Thermo-physical properties of the base fluid and nanoparticles.

Physical properties H2 O EO Ke Cu Al2 O3 Co

Cp (J/kgK) 4179 1880.3 2090 385 765 420

𝜌(kg/m3 ) 997.1 888.23 780 8933 3970 8900
𝜅(W/mK) 0.613 0.145 0.149 400 40 100
𝜇(Ns/m2 ) 0.001003 0.8451 0.00164 – – –
𝛽 × 10 − 5 (1/K) 21 70 99 1.67 0.85 1.3
𝛼 × 10 − 7 (m2 /s) 1.47 0.868 0.914 1163.1 131.7
Pr 6.83 10,959 23 – – –

Fig. 2. (a) Grid generation of the trapezoidal-shape cavity with a legend of quality measure, (b) the zoom in on the upper left-corner of the cavity.

2.6. Nusselt number Multiphysics which employed the Galerkin weighted residual finite
element method. The detailed of this method is well described by
The important physical quantity in this model is the Nusselt num- Zienkiewicz and Taylor [48], Rahman et al. [49] and Al-Kalbani et al.
ber(Nu) along the left heated wall of the enclosure which is calculated [50]). In a nutshell the method first discretized the solution domain
from the following expression: into finite number of grids, which are composed of non-uniform trian-
𝑘𝑛𝑓 1 𝑆 gular/rectangular elements. We used six node triangular elements for
𝜕𝜃
𝑁𝑢 = − 𝑑𝑁 (26) the development of the finite element equations. After that the nonlin-
𝑘𝑏𝑓 𝑆 ∫0 𝜕𝑁
ear governing partial differential equations are transformed into a sys-
√
2 2
tem of integral equations by applying the Galerkin weighted residual
𝜕𝜃 𝜕𝜃 𝜕𝜃
where 𝜕𝑁
= ( 𝜕𝑋 ) + ( 𝜕𝑌 ) and S, N are the non-dimensional length technique. The integration involved in each term of these equations is
and coordinate along the inclined heated surface respectively. If the left performed by using the Gauss’s quadrature method ([48]). Then non-
heated wall of the cavity is vertical and has the aspect ratio 1, then linear algebraic equations so obtained are modified by the imposition
(26) can be written as ([37]) of the boundary conditions. To solve the set of the global nonlinear al-
gebraic equations in the form of matrix, the Newton-Raphson iteration
𝑘𝑛𝑓 𝜕𝜃
1
𝑁𝑢 = − 𝑑𝑌 (27) technique is used. The convergence criterion of the numerical solution
𝑘𝑏𝑓 ∫0 𝜕𝑋 along with error estimation need to be set such as |ϒm + 1 − ϒm | ≤ 10 − 5 ,
In COMSOL, we need to select the left heated inclined wall of the where ϒ is the general dependent variables U, V, 𝜃 and m is the number
enclosure to calculate the “total heat flux magnitude”, then it will use of iteration.
its built-in function to evaluate the average Nusselt number 𝑁 𝑢𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
𝑆 𝜕𝜃
− 𝑆1 ∫0 𝜕𝑁 𝑑𝑁. The obtained numerical result need to be multiplied by
(knf /kbf ) to get the Nusselt number according to Eq. (26). The software 3.1. Grid generation
allows us to calculate the Nusselt number along any walls of the cavity.
We calculated the average Nusselt number along the hot inclined left In the finite element method, the grid generation is the technique
wall of the cavity since it is the only source of supplying heat to the to divide a domain into a set of sub-domains, called finite element. The
fluid. discrete locations are defined by the numerical grid, at which the vari-
ables are to be calculated. It is basically a discrete representation of
3. Numerical procedure the geometric domain on which the problem is to be solved. Meshing
the complicated geometry makes the finite element method a powerful
The governing dimensionless Eqs. (17)–(20) together with the technique to solve the boundary value problems occurring in a range of
boundary conditions (22)–(25) are solved numerically using Comsol engineering applications.

Table 3
Grid sensitivity check at Pr = 6.83, Ra = 106 , 𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3 and 𝜏 = 2 for Cu-H2 O nanofluid.

Number of nodes 93,172 106,600 133,628 149,444 204,436 221,384

Number of elements 180,860 207,716 261,772 293,404 403,388 437,284
Nuave 9.82408 9.82413 9.82471 9.82481 9.82489 9.82489

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The quality measures of refined mesh for the geometry are very im-
portant for the numerical simulations. A quality of 1 is the best possible
that indicates an optimal element in the chosen quality measure. On the
other hand a quality measure below 0.01 is considered to be a very low
quality and should be avoided in most cases. As per the authors’ knowl-
edge, the meshing algorithms in the simulation tool, COMSOL Multi-
physics always attempt to escape the low-quality elements. In our par-
ticular problem, the quality of the mesh is measured with an extreme
judicious manner with a series of examinations. For our simulation, we
have considered mesh with the following quality measures: maximum
growth rate is 2.47 where the average growth rate in the entire geom-
etry is 1.267, minimum quality measure is 0.7405 where the average
quality measure is 0.96, and element area ratio is 0.000299 where the
mesh area is 0.75 m2 . Fig. 2(a) shows the grid generation with a leg-
end of quality measure. Fig. 2(b) illustrates the zoom in on the upper
left-corner of the cavity where two boundary layers each of thickness
0.03 adjacent to the walls are displayed. It can be seen from these fig-
ures that the quality of the mesh generation is quite reasonable for the
precise solution.

3.2. Grid sensitivity test

An extensive mesh testing procedure is conducted to guarantee a
grid-independent solution for the Rayleigh number Ra = 106 and Prandtl
number Pr = 6.83 in a trapezoidal cavity. We examined five different
non-uniform grid systems with the following number of elements within
the resolution field: 180,860, 207,716, 261,772, 293,404, 403,388 and
437,284. The numerical design is carried out for highly precise key in the
average Nusselt number (Nuave ) for the aforesaid elements to develop an
understanding of the grid fineness as shown in Table 3.
The scale of Nuave for 403,388 elements is approximately equal up
to five decimal places with the results obtained for the elements of
Fig. 3. Average Nusselt number for different number of elements.
437,284. Hence a grid size of 403,388 elements is found to meet the
requirements of the solutions to be independent of grids as can be seen
in Fig. 3. In our simulation we have taken 403,388 elements.
3.3. Code validation
Due to a clear lack of nanofluid data, it was not possible to validate
our present mathematical model against experimental data for the spe-

Fig. 4. Streamlines for Cu-H2 O nanofluid at different dimensionless time when Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3.

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Table 4
Comparison of the average Nusselt number (Nuave ) with those of De
Vahl Davis [51] and Wan et al. [52] for different Rayleigh num-
ber(Ra) when 𝜃 s = 0, 𝜙 = 0 and Pr = 0.70.

Ra De Vahl Davis [51] Wan et al. [52] Present study

103 1.118 1.117 1.119

104 2.238 2.254 2.256
105 4.509 4.598 4.599
106 8.810 8.976 8.986

Fig. 6. Dimensionless time (𝜏) needed to reach the solutions for Nuave in steady state for
different Ra for Cu-H2 O nanofluid when 𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3.

Fig. 5. Average Nusselt number for different Ra and different dimensionless time 𝜏 when
𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3.

cific case of natural convection using nanofluids in a trapezoidal cavity.

Thus, in order to verify the model, we compared our results with the
numerical results of De Vahl Davis [51] and Wan et al. [52] for a square
enclosure filled with air. It is good to mention that for comparison we
used the same code of our nanofluid model. To obtain the special case
of De Vahl Davis [51] and Wan et al. [52] we set 𝜃 s = 0 (square enclo-
sure) and 𝜙 = 0 (base fluid) and Pr = 0.7 (air) in the COMSOL software.
The comparisons presented in Table 4 reveal an excellent agreement
with the reported studies. This validation boosts the confidence in the
numerical outcome of the present study.
4. Results and discussion
In this section, we discuss the numerical results for different values
of the model parameters considering nine different types of nanofluids
in a trapezoidal enclosure. The results explained the influences of the
Rayleigh number (Ra), the volume fraction of the nanoparticles (𝜙), the
shape factor of the nanoparticles (n), the inclination angle of the cav-
ity (aspect ratio), and the dimensionless time (𝜏) on the flow and heat
transfer characteristics such as the streamlines, isotherms, and the aver-
age Nusselt number. The default values of the parameters are Pr = 6.83,
Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3, AR = 1, 𝜏 = 2. The default nanofluid is consid-
ered as Cu-H2 O unless otherwise is specified.
4.1. Time evolution of solution
In Fig. 4 we have presented time evolution of streamlines from
the unsteady state to the steady state for the Cu-H2 O nanofluid when
Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05 and n = 3 considering the time step Δt = 0.01. As seen
from Fig. 4 that the solution for Cu-H2 O nanofluid evolved from the
unsteady to the steady state after certain dimensionless time 𝜏 (say 𝜏 s ).
Fig. 7. Average Nusselt number for different volume fraction (𝜙) and dimensionless time
(𝜏) when Ra = 105 , n = 3.
We can see that when 𝜏 s = 0.65, there are no changes in the streamlines
which means that the solution has reached to the steady state. As di-
mensionless time increases, the intensity of the nanofluid flow increases
until it reached to the steady state. The color expression represents the
x-component of the velocity (U) of the nanofluid. The color scale shows
the intensity of U inside the cavity.
Fig. 5 illustrates the variation of the average Nusselt number (Nuave )
against dimensionless time (𝜏) for different values of the Rayleigh num-
ber (Ra) when 𝜙 = 0.05 and n = 3 in Cu-H2 O nanofluid. The figure clearly
shows the time evolution of average Nusselt number from the unsteady
state to the steady state. The average Nusselt number (Nuave ) is very
large near 𝜏 = 0 due to the sudden increase in temperature at the left
wall. The average Nusselt number decreases with time and approaches
the steady state after certain 𝜏 ≥ 𝜏 s .
In Fig. 6 we depicted the dimensionless steady state time 𝜏 s against
the Rayleigh number (Ra) for the solutions (Nuave ) considering Cu-H2 O
nanofluid when 𝜙 = 0.05 and n = 3. It is good to mention that to de-
termine 𝜏 s , we followed the average Nusselt number against time and
recorded the smallest time when the solution is converged and reached
to the steady state i.e. the difference between two successive Nusselt
numbers is accurate up to 3 decimal places. It is observed from Fig. 6 that
for increasing the Rayleigh number the solution needs less time to reach
in steady state. An increase in Ra leads to an increase in the buoyancy
force which in turn induce the thermal state of the nanofluid. Thus,
a strong buoyancy force enforces the solution to reach in steady state
faster.

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S.M. Al-Weheibi et al.
Fig. 8. Streamlines for Cu-H2 O nanofluid for different volume fraction (𝜙) and Rayleigh number (Ra) when n = 3.
Fig. 7 shows the average Nusselt number (Nuave ) against dimension-
less time (𝜏) for different volume fractions (𝜙) when Ra = 105 and n = 3
for Cu-H2 O nanofluid. From this figure, we calculated that the steady
state time, 𝜏 s = 0.65 and 0.95, when the nanoparticle volume fraction
varied from 𝜙 = 0.05 to 0, respectively. Thus, addition of nanoparticles
to the base fluid helps the unsteady solution to reach in steady state
faster. It is good to mention that for a higher volume fraction of nanopar-
ticles in the base fluid there is a chance of particle trapping and in that
case the behavior of nanofluid may change from Newtonian to non-
Newtonian. In our simulation, we have varied the nanoparticle volume
fraction from 0 to 10%. An extreme case 10% is used to see whether
there is any qualitative change in the solution.
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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612
4.2. Effect of the Rayleigh number
In Fig. 5 we noticed that an increase in Ra leads to an increase in the
average Nusselt number which meant the rise of the rate of heat transfer.
Fig. 6 confirmed that for increasing the Rayleigh Number the solution
needs less time to reach in steady state. Fig. 8 displays the effect of
the Rayleigh number (Ra) on the streamlines for different values of the
nanoparticles volume fraction (𝜙) considering Cu-H2 O nanofluid. When
Ra = 104 , the distributions of streamlines show that conduction is the
dominant mode of heat transfer. Physically, it means that the buoyancy
force created due to the temperature difference between the hot surface
and the cold fluid is not strong enough to regulate the convection. By
increasing Ra (≥ 105 ), the convection mode became more pronounced
than conduction as can be seen from this figure. It is also seen that the
S.M. Al-Weheibi et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612

Fig. 9. Isotherms for Cu-H2 O nanofluid for different volume fraction (𝜙) and Rayleigh number (Ra) when n = 3.

Table 5 Table 6
Average Nusselt number for different nanofluids and different vol- Average Nusselt number for different nanofluids and shape factor when
ume fractions when Ra = 105 , n = 3 and 𝜏 = 2. Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05 and 𝜏 = 2.

Nanofluids 𝜙 Nanofluids n

0 0.02 0.05 0.1 3 3.7 4.9 5.7 8.6

Cu-H2 O 4.79048 4.90759 5.07824 5.35063 Cu-H2 O 5.07824 5.19052 5.38005 5.50444 5.94315
Co-H2 O 4.79048 4.90229 5.06464 5.32213 Co-H2 O 5.06464 5.17329 5.35515 5.47344 5.88407
Al2 O3 -H2 O 4.79048 4.88176 5.01153 5.20935 Al2 O3 -H2 O 5.01153 5.11290 5.27981 5.38656 5.74639
Cu-EO 4.79731 4.93841 5.14561 5.47886 Cu-EO 5.14561 5.26070 5.45546 5.58360 6.03463
Co-EO 4.79731 4.94120 5.15241 5.49175 Co-EO 5.15241 5.26684 5.46007 5.58693 6.03758
Al2 O3 -EO 4.79731 4.92419 5.1088 5.40106 Al2 O3 -EO 5.10880 5.22064 5.40873 5.53169 5.96231
Cu-Ke 4.79584 4.93658 5.14304 5.4764 Cu-Ke 5.14304 5.25799 5.45248 5.58044 6.03178
Co-Ke 4.79584 4.93979 5.15092 5.48979 Co-Ke 5.15092 5.26520 5.45816 5.58483 6.03374
Al2 O3 -Ke 4.79584 4.92342 5.10912 5.40326 Al2 O3 -Ke 5.10912 5.22083 5.40867 5.53143 5.96122

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S.M. Al-Weheibi et al.
Fig. 10. Average Nusselt number for different volume fractions (𝜙) and Rayleigh number
(Ra) when n = 3.
streamlines become very compact at the left heated and right cold walls
of the cavity indicating that the warmed fluid close to the both walls is
accelerated well when buoyancy effect is intensified. We further observe
that as Ra increases, the density of the streamlines inside the enclosure
Fig. 11. Average Nusselt number for different value of the shape factor (n) and base fluids with various nanoparticles when Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05, and 𝜏 = 2.
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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612
increases and the vortex changes from circular to elliptic shape. This is
due to the fact that the convection mode of heat transfer dominates in
those regions for the heated left wall. Thus, we can conclude that as the
buoyancy increases, the density of the streamlines inside the enclosure
increases and become close to each other due to the dominant mode of
the natural convection. It is also important to note that the thickness of
the boundary layer decreases with the increase of the Rayleigh number.
An increase in Rayleigh number intensifies the thermal energy transfer
from the hot surface to the fluid which in turn forced the decelerated
fluid particles to move away from the boundary layer. Fig. 8 further
shows that as the nanoparticle volume fraction increases, movements
of particles become irregular and random due to increasing of energy
exchange rates in the fluid. In Fig. 8 we also observe two major vortices
of which one rotates anti clockwise near the heated wall and the other
rotates clockwise near the right cold wall for Ra = 106 . This is due to
the strong buoyancy effect near the uniformly heated left wall as well as
near the cold right wall. In the remaining region of the enclosure except
these two vortices the heat is transferred mainly by conduction as can
be seen from the isotherm pattern of Fig. 9. We have mentioned before
(see Fig. 4) that the color expression represents the x-component of the
velocity (U) of the nanofluid. Different colors represent the intensity of
Uinside the cavity.
Isotherm contours are helpful to detect the effectiveness of heat
transfer in a fluid and also tells us about the dictating mode of heat
transfer whether it is conduction or convection. Fig. 9 presents isotherm
contours for various values of the Rayleigh number (Ra = 104 − 106 )
and nanoparticles volume fraction 𝜙. From this figure we see that the
S.M. Al-Weheibi et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612

Fig. 12. Average Nusselt number for different value of the shape factor (n) and nanoparticles with different base fluids when Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05, and 𝜏 = 2.

Table 7 4.3. Effect of nanoparticles volume fraction

Average Nusselt number for different nanofluids and Rayleigh
number when n = 3, 𝜙 = 0.05 and 𝜏 = 2.
Fig. 10 demonstrates a relationship between the volume fraction of
Nanofluids Ra the nanoparticles (𝜙), the Rayleigh number and the average Nusselt
103 104 105 106 number (Nuave ) for Cu-H2 O nanofluid. It is found that Nuave intensifies
as 𝜙 increases. It is due to the fact that when the amount of nanopar-
Cu-H2 O 1.61201 2.52350 5.07824 9.82489
Co-H2 O 1.60871 2.51650 5.06464 9.78652 ticles in the base fluid increases the energy exchange rates in the fluid
Al2 O3 -H2 O 1.60109 2.48705 5.01153 9.68779 due to the irregular and random movements of the nanoparticles also
Cu-EO 1.61479 2.55411 5.14561 9.93570 increases. Thus, heat transfer performance is enhanced with the increase
Co-EO 1.61513 2.55795 5.15241 9.94796
of 𝜙 as well as with the Rayleigh numebr (Ra).
Al2 O3 -EO 1.61158 2.53435 5.10880 9.86743
Cu-Ke 1.61481 2.55403 5.14304 9.93286
Tables 5–7 show the average Nusselt number in steady state for 9
Co-Ke 1.61512 2.55845 5.15092 9.94709 different types of nanofluids for different volume fractions, shape factor
Al2 O3 -Ke 1.61162 2.53554 5.10912 9.86957 and Rayleigh number when 𝜏 = 2. It is clear that increasing the volume
fraction of the nanoparticles enhances the average Nusselt number. En-
gine oill based nanofluids give better heat transfer rate. The rate of heat
transfer is higher when the particles shape is blade. Moreover, Co-EO
nanofluid having blade shape nanoprticles exhibits higher average Nus-
isotherms are almost parallel to the bottom wall and are denced near
selt number comparing with the other types of nanofluids.
the left and right walls of the cavity due to the convection. For smaller
Rayleigh number the isotherms became parallel to the cold right wall of
the cavity. The heat transfer is taken place due to the dominant mode 4.4. Effect of the nanoparticle shape factor
of heat conduction. For relatively higher value of the Rayleigh number,
the isotherms are spreaded throughout the enclosure. By increasing the As we mentioned before that for different values of n we have dif-
Rayleigh number, the density of the isotherms increased significantly ferent shapes of the nanoparticle. In our work, we studied five differ-
near the heated wall of the cavity due to the stronger convection ef- ent shapes of the nanoparticles for three different base fluids. The re-
fects. At higher Ra value, adding more nanoparticles to be base fluid sults presented in Fig. 11 help us to compare the average Nusselt num-
improves convective heat transfer mechanisms. bers for different values of the nanoparticle shape factor when Ra = 105 ,

609
S.M. Al-Weheibi et al.
Fig. 13. Streamlines and Isotherms for different value of the aspect ratio (AR) when Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3, and 𝜏 = 2 for Cu-H2 O nanofluid.
𝜙 = 0.05, and 𝜏 = 2. It can be seen that the blade shape of the nanopar-
ticle (i.e., n = 8.6) gives highest average Nusselt number for all types of
nanofluids comparing with the other shapes of the nanoparticle. This is
due to the fact that the blade shape nanoparticle has the highest surface
factor 3.29 (1/nm) compared to the others 2.22 (1/nm) for platelets,
0.58 (1/nm) for cylinders and 0.19 (1/nm) for bricks ([46]). Surface
factor represents surface area of nanoparticle normalized per unit vol-
ume and defined as ratio between the surface and the volume of the
particle of certain shape and size. Thus, higher surface factor means
higher surface area. Hence blade shape nanoparticle gives better heat
transfer rates.
In Fig. 12 we have displayed the variation of the average Nusselt
number against the shape factor of the nanoparticles for different types
of nanoparticles in three different base fluids such as water, ethylene
glycol and kerosene when Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05, and 𝜏 = 2. This figure also
confirms that blade shape nanoparticles provide higher heat transfer
rate irrespective of the types of base fluids and materials of the nanopar-
ticles.
4.5. Effect of the aspect ratio
The preceding results are obtained for a fixed value AR = 1, the as-
pect ratio of the enclosure. Thus, it is not clear how these solutions vary
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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612
with the aspect ratio. To investigate this we have calculated streamlines
and isotherms for different value of the aspect ratio when Ra = 105 ,
𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3, 𝜏 = 2 for Cu-H2 O nanofluid. Fig. 13 demonstrates that
the aspect ratio of the trapezoidal enclosure has an important role in
the flow and thermal fields of the nanofluids. The vortex inside the cav-
ity changes from the elliptical shape to the egg shape when the aspect
ratio changes from the lower (0.25) value to the upper value (1). The
curvature of the isotherms increases as the aspect ratio of the cavity
increases.
Fig. 14 presents the average Nusselt number (Nuave ) for different
value of the nanoparticles volume fraction (𝜙) and different aspect ra-
tio (AR) when Ra = 105 , 𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3, 𝜏 = 2 for Cu-H2 O nanofluid. It
is seen that the average Nusselt number is increased by increasing the
aspect ratio of the trapezoidal enclosure. For example, the values of the
average Nusselt number are 2.13 and 5.27 when the aspect ratios are
0.25 and 0.8 respectively. Thus, the rate of heat transfer is increased
by 147.42% when the aspect ratio of the enclosure is increased from
0.25 to 0.8. The simulated results show that the critical aspect ratio of
the trapezoidal enclosure for higher heat transfer rate is AR = 1 for all
considered values of 𝜙. This clearly indicates that the volume fraction
of the nanoparticles does not have a significant influence on the aspect
ratio of the trapezoidal enclosure.
S.M. Al-Weheibi et al.
Fig. 14. Average Nusselt number for different nanoparticles volume fraction (𝜙) and the
aspect ratio (AR) when Ra = 105 , n = 3 and 𝜏 = 2 for Cu-H2 O nanofluid.
Fig. 15. Average Nusselt number for different Rayleigh number and aspect ratio (AR)
when 𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3 and 𝜏 = 2 for Cu-H2 O nanofluid.
Average Nusselt number for different Rayleigh number and differ-
ent aspect ratio when 𝜙 = 0.05, n = 3, and 𝜏 = 2 for Cu-H2 O nanofluid
is presented in Fig. 15. As displayed in this figure for different value of
the Rayleigh number we have different critical values of the aspect ratio
of the trapezoidal enclosure for higher heat transfer rate. For example,
when Ra = 106 the critical aspect ratio is AR = 0.6 and for Ra = 105 and
104 it is AR = 0.85. At Ra = 103 the critical aspect ratio is AR = 0.5. So
we can conclude that the critical aspect ratio depends on the value of
the Rayleigh number thus on the buoyancy force.
5. Conclusions
In this paper, we have studied numerically the problem of unsteady
natural convection flow and heat transfer in a trapezoidal enclosure
filled with nine different types of nanofluids. Consideration of the var-
ious nanoparticles volume fraction along with five different shapes of
nanoparticles makes this study more realistic from physical and engi-
neering point of views. The time evolution of solutions from the un-
steady to the steady state was analyzed in details.
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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 131–132 (2017) 599–612
The physical model is governed by the highly nonlinear and coupled
partial differential equations which cannot be solved analytically. To
follow the numerical approach we first made the governing equations
dimensionless using suitable non-dimensional quantities. The simula-
tion was carried out through the very robust pde solver COMSOL Mul-
tiphysics which uses finite element method. Comparisons with previ-
ously published works were performed which gave excellent agreement
among the results.
In the physical model, the effects of the pertinent parameters such
as the Rayleigh number (Ra), nanoparticles volume fraction (𝜙), shape
factor (n) of the nanoparticles, and aspect ratio (AR) of the enclosure on
streamlines, isotherms and average Nusselt number were investigated in
details. From the numerical simulations, we noticed that a strong buoy-
ancy force i.e. higher Ra, helps the solutions to reach in steady state
faster. Higher values of the Rayleigh number confirm better heat trans-
fer through convection than conduction. The blade shape nanoparticle
gives higher rate of heat transfer for all studied nanofluids. Heat transfer
rate increases with the increase of the aspect ratio of the trapezoidal en-
closure. Increased volume fraction of the nanoparticles in the base fluid
intensifies the rate of heat transfer. Critical aspect ratio of the trape-
zoidal enclosure for higher heat transfer rate depends on the Rayleigh
number. Co-EO nanofluid with blade shape nanoparticles gives higher
average Nusselt number (Nuave ).
The theoretical prediction in this paper may be useful for the ex-
perimentalists to study the effectiveness of the natural convection in
a trapezoidal enclosure filled with nanofluids to increasing the rate of
heat transfer for harvesting solar energy. So, we hoped that the results
and discussion in this study will be helpful for the betterment of existing
solar energy technologies. An extension of the current work considering
thermal non-equilibrium between the nanoparticles and the base fluid is
under way. Further extension of this work can also be done considering
a different thermal boundary condition such as lateral heating [53,54].
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Professor N. Phan-Thien, Department of Mechan-
ical Engineering, National University of Singapore for the constructive
comments (on the first draft of the paper) which led to definite improve-
ment in the paper. M. M. Rahman would like to thank The Research
Council (TRC) of Oman for funding under the Open Research Grant Pro-
gram ORG/SQU/CBS/14/007 and College of Science through the grant
IG/SCI/DOMS/16/15.
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