Free Convection Heat Transfer of Nano-enhanced Phase Change Material in a Porous Medium

  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
  • This paper aims to evaluate the effect of porosity and buoyancy on the natural convection of CuO-RT25 nano- enhanced phase change material (NePCM) in a differentially heated porous square cavity. Buongiorno’s two-phase model is utilized to consider the Brownian thermophoresis diffusion of nanoparticles in the carrier liquid. The governing equations are solved numerically by a finite volume technique. The numerical solution is performed using the Brinkman–Forchheimer- extended Darcy model and Boussinesq approximations, as well as the non-equilibrium thermal boundary condition for the porous media. Numerical computations are performed for various Rayleigh numbers (Ra=5×103 , Ra=3×105 ) and porosity ratios ( ε=0.7, 1 ). Effects of porosity, buoyancy, and nanoparticle distribution on the flow and heat transfer rates are discussed in detail by isotherms and distributions of nanoparticles. Numerical results indicate that at Ra=3×105 , heat is transferred via conduction at the beginning and its rate is not significantly affected by porosity. As time passes, the convection mechanism increasingly affects the temperature profiles, while conduction remains the dominant heat transfer mechanism in the porous media at a lower Rayleigh number.

    Part of Proceedings of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering International Congress 2022.

  • Date created
    2022-06-01
  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Type of Item
    Article (Published)
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-w70x-5c67
  • License
    Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International