Numerical analysis of electrothermoconvection of a dielectric nanofluid in a heated cavity

Abstract

Abstract A numerical analysis of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow and heat transfer of nanofluid in a heated rectangular cavity is presented. A two-dimensional (2D) rectangular cavity heated from the bottom is considered. An electric potential difference is applied vertically, with the bottom wall acting as a high-voltage electrode, and the top wall is grounded. TiO2-25 # transformer oil nanofluid with nanoparticle volume fraction ranging from 0–5% is considered. The numerical model for EHD flow and heat transfer of nanofluid is implemented in the finite-volume method (FVM) based numerical framework of OpenFOAM. A single-phase approach based on the effective properties is adopted to model the nanofluids. A two-way coupled EHD flow model is employed to consider mutual interactions of flow and electric field variables. The flow and heat transfer behavior of nanofluids in the presence of an electric field is quantified with reference to the key parameters, electric Rayleigh number (T), and the nanoparticle volume fraction ϕ. The addition of nanoparticles increased the viscosity and marginally reduced the natural convective flow and heat transfer. However, EHD flow induced by the electric field aided in overcoming the weak natural convection flow in nanofluids. Results confirm that nanofluids’ net effective heat transfer rates are notably increased in the presence of the electric field. For the parameters under consideration, combining electric fields with nanofluids led to a significant heat transfer enhancement of up to 32.3%. The present study showcases the feasibility of combining passive heat transfer enhancement using nanoparticles and active heat transfer enhancement using EHD flow.