Two- and three-dimensional comparative study of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of nanofluids flow through a ventilated cubic cavity (part I: Newtonian nanofluids)

Through this paper, three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer of Al₂O₃ nanofluid within ventilated enclosures was taken into consideration. Crossed by the nanofluid, the ventilation system is assured by two equivalent openings located at the vertical walls. So, the cold nanofluid gets enter using the opening located at the top of the left side and leaving by the second one, which is located at the bottom of the right side. Except the adiabatic rear and front sides, all parts of the cubic space are maintained at a constant temperature, higher than that of the entrance nanofluid. To make clear the impact of main parameters such as Reynolds number, the Richardson number and nanoparticles volume fraction as well as the 2D extension, the convection phenomenon was reported by means of streamlines and isotherm plots, side by side with the velocity profiles. The main results obtained show that when the Reynolds number increases, the heat exchange rate is an increasing function and the pressure drop is a decreasing function. In addition, in a conductive dominant regime for low Reynolds numbers, the two-dimensional (2D) is valid and can predict the studied phenomena in three-dimensional (3D). Finally, a correlation for the pressure drop is obtained in polynomial form.