Numerical Investigation of Hybrid Nanofluid Natural Convection and Entropy Generation in a Corrugated Enclosure with an Inner Conducting Block

Abstract

Current work deals with a numerical analysis of convective heat transfer and entropy generation inside a rectangular cavity with a corrugated bottom filled with MoS2–SiO2-water hybrid nanofluid. Here, a conducting solid body is attached to the top wall, and discrete heaters are attached to the bottom wall of the cavity. The numerical solutions of the governing equations are derived utilizing a higher-order compact (HOC) finite difference scheme and validated with the existing computational and experimental results. Present numerical results are then studied in detail, emphasizing isotherms, streamlines, and local entropy generation with respect to specific parameters like Rayleigh number (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 106), the volume percentage of nanoparticles (0% ≤ Φ ≤ 4%), the thermal conductivity of solid body (1.95 ≤ ks ≤ 16.00) as well as the aspect ratio of heater length (AR = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8). The impacts of key factors on the Bejan number, average Nusselt number, and overall entropy generation are also investigated. The results show that an increase in the thermal conductivity of the solid body from 1.95 to 16.00 increases the average Nusselt number and total entropy generation by 9.17% and 40.07%, respectively, for AR = 0.2, Ra = 106, and Φ = 4%. In addition, the average Nusselt number and total entropy generation decrease by 59.11% and 61.99%, respectively, for ks = 16.00, Ra = 106, and Φ = 4% when the aspect ratio of heater length increases to 0.8.