Convective Heat Transfer in a Vertical Channel Filled with a Nanofluid

Nanofluids are engineered colloids made of a base fluid and nanoparticles (1-100 nm). This article presents the numerical study of a natural convection flow and heat transfer characteristics in a vertical channel filled with a nanofluid. The transport equations along with the boundary conditions are first cast into a dimensionless form and then the resulting equations are solved numerically by finite difference method. Also, we compared the numerical results using semi-numerical-analytical method known as Differential Transformation Method (DTM), and regular perturbation method (PM). The influence of pertinent parameters such as Grashof number, Brinkman number and the nanoparticle volume fraction on the velocity and temperature fields are shown graphically. Results for the skin friction and heat transfer rate for various types of nanoparticles such as Ag-water, Cu-water, SiO2-water, Diamond-water and TiO2-water are also tabulated. The results obtained for the flow and heat transfer characteristics reveal many interesting behaviors that warrant further study on nanofluids in a vertical channel.