Unsteady numerical investigation of nanofluid mixed convection within a cubic cavity with periodic motion of double oscillatory walls

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the oscillatory movement on heat transfer within a double periodic lid-driven cubic enclosure filled with copper-water nanofluid and to figure out how the oscillations impact the fluid flow and thermal behavior inside the enclosure. The authors asserted that this study will help to improve the heat transfer efficiency and the thermal performance of various technical engineering equipments. Design/methodology/approach The cubic enclosure is heated differentially; the left side is cold, the right one is warm and the remaining walls are insulated. Based on the movement directions of the upper and bottom lids, two cases for lid-driven walls are examined (Case 1: same movement for both lids; Case 2: opposite movement for the lids). The finite volume approach was implemented to solve the time-dependent three-dimensional momentum and energy equations, adopting the power low as a scheme of resolution. The numerical study was carried out for a range of parameters: volume fraction (0 ≤ φ ≤ 0.06), Richardson number (0.1 ≤ Ri ≤ 10), non-dimensional lid frequency (2π/50 ≤ Ω ≤ 2π/10) and fixed Grashof number 105. Findings The numerical simulations were executed for two different cases of the direction of the motion of the oscillatory lids. Based on the findings obtained, decreasing the Richardson number with low lids frequency gives the best heat transfer enhancement for both cases. Furthermore, in the same conditions, swapping from Case 2 to Case 1 leads to enhancing the maximum average Nusselt number obtained by 29.74%. At a high Richardson number, using high lids frequency increases the heat transfer rate compared to using low lids frequency (an enhancement of 4.32% for Case 1 and 3.63% for Case 2). The best heat transfer rate was established for Case 1 when the lids move positively, transporting the cold flow to the hot side. In all cases, increasing the concentration of nanoparticles improves the heat transfer. Originality/value The current study gives an understanding of the problem of mixed convection in a cubic enclosure with oscillatory walls, which has received little attention. And also, there has been no study published on unsteady mixed convection within a double oscillatory lid-driven cavity.