This paper aims to provide an experimental/numerical analysis of free convection within a hollow/finned cavity.
The hollow square cavity is equipped with eight active fins which have a similar configuration and different temperatures. Furthermore, four different thermal arrangements are considered to determine the order of temperature for each fin. The coupled lattice Boltzmann method is used, which not only maintains the considerable advantages of standard lattice Boltzmann method such as accuracy but also enhances the stability of this method.
The cavity is filled with TiO2-SiO2/Water-Ethylene Glycol nanofluid. The thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of nanofluid are experimentally measured using high-precision devices in six concentrations of the nanoparticle. In this study, some main parameters, including a range of Rayleigh number (103 < Ra < 106), the concentration of nanofluid (0.5 to 3 Vol.%) and thermal arrangements of fins, are considered. The effects of these main parameters on the flow, isotherms, heat transfer performance and entropy generation are studied.
The originality of this paper is combining the numerical simulation (lattice Boltzmann method) using a modern approach with experimental observations of nanofluid’s properties.
