Numerical investigation of combined buoyancy-thermocapillary convection and entropy generation in 3D cavity filled with Al 2 O 3 nanofluid

Abstract

Heat transfer, fluid flow and entropy generation due to combined buoyancy and thermocapillary forces in a 3D differentially heated enclosure containing Al 2 O 3 nanofluid are carried out for different Marangoni numbers and different nanoparticles concentrations. The vector potential-vorticity formalism and the finite volume method are used respectively to formulate and to solve the governing equations and calculations were performed for Marangoni number from −10 3 to 10 3 , volume fraction of nanoparticles from 0 to 0.2 and for a fixed Rayleigh number at 10 5 . An intensification of the flow and an increase in heat transfer and of total entropy generation occur with the increase in nanoparticles volume fraction for all Marangoni numbers.