Numerical simulation of convective heat transport within the nanofluid filled vertical tube of plain and uneven side walls

Two-dimensional transient natural convective flow in a vertical tube of plain and uneven side-walls containing cobalt-kerosene nanofluids is analyzed using a nonhomogeneous dynamic model. The vertical right wall of the enclosure is maintained at a constant low temperature and the left wall is heated by a uniform thermal condition whereas the horizontal side-walls are insulated. The Brownian motion and thermophoretic phenomena of the nanoparticles are considered in the model. The governing nonlinear momentum, energy, and concentration equations are solved numerically using a Galerkin weighted residual finite element method. The thermal, flow and concentration fields are obtained to understand the flow dynamics of cobalt-kerosene nanofluid in two types of enclosures. The local and average Nusselt numbers are analyzed for plain and uneven side walls of the tube for different parameters of the problem. The simulated results are compared with the experimental as well as with the numerical data available in the literature for some special cases. The outcomes show that the tube of having uneven vertical side-walls give higher heat transfer for lower values of the thermal Rayleigh number; whereas for the higher values of the thermal Rayleigh number, the tube of plain vertical side-walls exhibit significantly higher heat transfer rate.

Double-diffusive instabilities at a horizontal boundary after the sudden onset of heating

When a deep body of fluid with a stable salinity gradient is heated from below at a horizontal boundary a destabilizing temperature gradient develops and can lead to instabilities. We will focus on two variants of this problem: the sudden increase in the boundary temperature at the initial time and the sudden turning on of a constant heat flux. These generate time-dependent temperature profiles. We look at the growing phase of the linear instabilities as an initial value problem where the initial time for the instabilities is a parameter to be determined. We determine numerically the optimal initial conditions and the optimal starting time for the instabilities to ensure that the maximum growth occurs at some given later time. The method that is used is an extension of the method developed by Kerr & Gumm (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 825, 2017, pp. 1002–1034) in their investigation of the stability of developing temperature boundary layers at horizontal and vertical boundaries. This requires the use of an appropriate measure of the amplitude of the disturbances which is identified. The effectiveness of this approach is verified by looking at the classic problem of double-diffusive convection in a horizontal layer, where we look at both the salt-finger regime and the diffusive regime. We show that this approach is an effective way of investigating instabilities where the background gradients time dependent. For the problem of heating a salinity gradient from below, as the heat diffuses into the fluid the effective thermal Rayleigh number based on the instantaneous diffusion length scale grows. For the case of a sudden increase in the temperature by a fixed amount the effective thermal Rayleigh number is proportional to $t^{3/2}$, and for a constant heat flux it is proportional to $t^{2}$, where $t$ is the time since the onset of heating. However, the effective salt Rayleigh number also grows as $t^{2}$. We will show that for the constant temperature case the thermal Rayleigh number initially dominates and the instabilities undergo a phase where the convection is essentially thermal, and the onset is essentially instantaneous. As the salt Rayleigh number becomes more significant the instability undergoes a transition to oscillatory double-diffusive convection. For the constant heat flux the ratio of the thermal and salt Rayleigh numbers is constant, and the instabilities are always double diffusive in their nature. These instabilities initially decay. Hence, to achieve the largest growth at some given fixed time, there is an optimal time after the onset of heating for the instabilities to be initiated. These instabilities are essentially double diffusive throughout their growth.

Effect Of Dust Particles On Thermal Convection In A Ferromagnetic Fluid

This paper deals with the theoretical investigation of the effect of dust particles on the thermal convection in a ferromagnetic fluid subjected to a transverse uniform magnetic field. For a flat ferromagnetic fluid layer contained between two free boundaries, the exact solution is obtained, using a linear stability analysis. For the case of stationary convection, dust particles and non-buoyancy magnetization have always a destabilizing effect. The critical wavenumber and critical magnetic thermal Rayleigh number for the onset of instability are also determined numerically for sufficiently large values of the buoyancy magnetization parameter M1. The results are depicted graphically. It is observed that the critical magnetic thermal Rayleigh number is reduced because the heat capacity of the clean fluid is supplemented by that of the dust particles. The principle of exchange of stabilities is found to hold true for the ferromagnetic fluid heated from below in the absence of dust particles. The oscillatory modes are introduced by the dust particles. A sufficient condition for the non-existence of overstability is also obtained.

On thermohaline convection with linear gradients

The thermohaline stability problem previously treated by Stern, Walin and Veronis is examined in greater detail. An error in an earlier paper is corrected and some new calculations made. It is shown, for instance, that direct convection can occur for thermal Rayleigh number R much less than 100 Rs when Rs [gsim ] 0·1, where Rs is the salinity Rayleigh number. A graphical presentation is devised to show the relative importance of the different terms in the equations of motion as a function of R and Rs. The most unstable mode over all wave-numbers for each R, Rs is found and it is shown that where both unstable direct and oscillating modes are present, the most unstable mode is direct in most cases.