Numerical investigation into natural convection heat transfer enhancement of copper-water nanofluid in a wavy wall enclosure

Numerical investigations are performed into the natural convection heat transfer characteristics within a wavy-wall enclosure filled with Cu-water nanofluid. In the paper, the bottom wall of the enclosure has a wavy geometry and is maintained at a constant high temperature, while the top wall is straight and is maintained at a constant low temperature. The left and right walls of the enclosure are both straight and insulated. In performing the simulation, the Boussinesq approximation is used to model the governing equations. The study examines the effect of the nanoparticle volume fraction, the Rayleigh number, the wave amplitude, and the wavelength on the heat transfer characteristics. It is shown that the heat transfer performance can be enhanced as the volume fraction of nanoparticles increases. It is also shown that for a given Rayleigh number, the heat transfer effect can be optimized via an appropriate changing of the geometry conditions.