Experimental investigation of natural convection of Fe3O4-water nanofluid in a cubic cavity.

Convective heat transfer of nanofluids has been an active research topic in recent times. But the relative amount of research in natural convection of nanofluids is scarce in comparison with forced convection. In this study the effect of Fe3O4/water nanofluid on the natural convection behavior in a differentially heated cubic cavity of characteristic length 30 mm has been investigated. The nanofluids are synthesized using a two-step approach and their thermophysical properties like thermal conductivity and viscosity are measured in the temperature ranging from 20 to 60 ° C. The effect of nanoparticle volume fraction on heat transfer performance is studied with concentration ranging from 0–0.8% by volume. The cavity is made up of Poly-lactic acid (PLA) with two sides covered with copper plates. One of the copper plates is kept in contact with ambient atmosphere while variable heat flux using silica gel heater is applied on the other copper plate. All previous results have shown either monotonous deterioration or an increment followed by a continuous decrease in heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number with increase in concentration. The results of this study have shown that for constant input heat flux the Nusselt number decreases monotonously. Further it is observed that for constant Rayleigh number there is an increase in Nusselt number with increase in concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]