Natural convection heat transfer in a square cavity heated by trapezoidal body using two-phase nanofluid model

— Steady laminar natural convection and heat transfer of nanofluid-filled square cavity heated by trapezoidal solid body is studied numerically using the finite element method. The heat source into the cavity is considered by the bottom wall of the trapezoidal body, where this segment is kept at a higher isothermal temperature. The left and right horizontal walls are maintained isothermally with cold temperature while the left and right horizontal walls is thermally insulated. The boundaries of the domain are assumed to be impermeable, the fluid within the cavity is a water-based nanofluid having Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles. The numerical computations are obtained for various parameters of Rayleigh number, nanoparticle volume fraction and thermal conductivity of the trapezoidal body. The heat transfer rate is clearly enhanced with the increasing of the nanoparticle volume fraction and Rayleigh number. However, this enhancement tends to be quite obvious at the interface wall.