Transient electrohydrodynamic convective flow and heat transfer of MWCNT - Dielectric nanofluid in a heated enclosure

A computational research was performed to analyze the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) convective heat transfer in a differentially heated dielectric-MWCNT nanofluid layer. The study was conducted on a square enclosure subjected to a temperature gradient between these two vertical walls as well as a potential difference between these horizontal walls. The enclosure was filled with MWCNT oil-based nanofluid; the MWCNT nanoparticles were dispersed in a perfectly insulating thermal oil with a volume fraction of hardly exceeded 0.4%. The governing equations were derived with the assumption of homogeneous nanofluid and were solved with employing finite volume method. Based on the obtained results, it was found that the increase of Rayleigh number, electric Rayleigh number and nanoparticle concentration enhanced the heat transfer. For high thermal and electric Rayleigh number values, the flow and heat transfer became time dependent and accordingly a frequency study was also performed. It was found that the inclusion of an electric field with the addition of nanoparticles led to a significant heat transfer enhancement of about 43%.