Natural convection heat transfer in 2D and 3D trapezoidal enclosures filled with nanofluid

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the heat transfer performance due to free convection of nanofluids with variable properties inside 2D and 3D channels with trapezoidal cross sections. The governing equations are solved numerically using the finite volume method and the SIMPLER algorithm. In this study, the effect of the nanoparticle volume fraction, Rayleigh number, side wall angles of the trapezoidal section, and axial slope of the 3D channel are examined. The presented results include the average Nusselt number, flow circulation streamlines, and isothermal contours. The heat transfer rate (i.e., Nusselt number) is seen to increase in both 2D and 3D channels with an increase in the Rayleigh number. In 2D trapezoidal enclosures, the Nusselt number decreases with an increase in the nanoparticle volume fraction from zero to 2% and increases if the nanoparticle volume fraction is greater than 2%. In 3D channels, an increase in the axial slope of the channel leads to an increase in the Nusselt number.