ABSTRACT
Buoyancy-induced flows in rectangular enclosures using nanofluids were investigated. The nanofluid under investigation in this chapter was a water-based alumina nanofluid. To investigate the temperature field, a non-invasive method, namely ultrasound thermometry, is used to observe the temperature field. Some experimental work has been conducted with nanofluids under the influence of buoyancy-driven flows, yet further experimentation and validation is required to understand convective transport in nanofluids. The experimental enclosure was validated using water as the initial fluid; measured values of the local fluid temperature were compared with numerical simulations utilizing COMSOL Multiphysics. It was confirmed that temperature measurements of the flow field can be made to assess convective regimes and flow phenomena that induce significant temperature variations. Further investigation of the heat transfer characteristics of nanofluid under the influence of buoyancy-induced flows in enclosures can be done by using the measured experimental data in conjunction with numerical modeling and optimizing an approximation for the heat flux at the walls.
