Natural convection and entropy generation in partially heated porous wavy cavity saturated by a nanofluid

Abstract

Steady laminar natural convection and entropy generation in a porous wavy cavity saturated by a nanofluid with partial bottom temperature is studied numerically using the finite element method. An isothermal heater is placed on the bottom horizontal wall of the cavity with length h while the wavy vertical walls are maintained at the same constant cold temperature ????. The remainder of the bottom wall and the top wall are kept adiabatic. The boundaries of the domain are assumed to be impermeable and the fluid within the cavity is a water-based nanofluid having Cu nanoparticles. The Boussinesq approximation is applicable and the Tiwari and Das' nanofluid model is considered. The Forchheimer-Brinkman-extended Darcy model is assumed to hold. The numerical computations are obtained for various values of Darcy number, nanoparticle volume fraction and the amplitude of the wave. Based on the obtained results, it is found that the strength of the streamlines increases with the increment of the Darcy number.