Natural Convection of Ternary Hybrid Nanofluid in a Differential-Heated Enclosure with Non-Uniform Heating Wall

Abstract

In the field of convective energy transfer, natural convection is one of the most studied phenomena, with applications ranging from heat exchangers and geothermal energy systems to hybrid nanofluids. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize the free convection of a ternary hybrid nanosuspension (Al2O3-Ag-CuO/water ternary hybrid nanofluid) in an enclosure with a linearly warming side border. The ternary hybrid nanosuspension motion and energy transfer have been modelled by partial differential equations (PDEs) with appropriate boundary conditions by the single-phase nanofluid model with the Boussinesq approximation. The finite element approach is applied to resolve the control PDEs after transforming them into a dimensionless view. The impact of significant characteristics such as the nanoparticles’ volume fraction, Rayleigh number, and linearly heating temperature constant on the flow and thermal patterns combined with the Nusselt number has been investigated and analyzed using streamlines, isotherms, and other suitable patterns. The performed analysis has shown that the addition of a third kind of nanomaterial allows for intensifying the energy transport within the closed cavity. The transition between uniform heating to non-uniform heating of the left vertical wall characterizes the heat transfer degradation due to a reduction of the heat energy output from this heated wall.