Numerical investigation of heat transfer enhancement of natural convection in a square cavity filled with a Water-CuO nanofluid

We presents a numerical study of natural convection heat transfer in a square cavity filled a water-CuO nanofluid. The governing equations for natural convection are solved numerically with a Chebyshev pseudo spectral method using and projection method as a decoupling strategy. The Nusselt number is determined as a function of Rayleigh number and the solid volume fraction. The high conductivity of the CuO nanoparticles modifies the overall thermal conductivity of the fluid, even with a decrement of the Nusselt number the effective thermal conductivity increase therefore higher heat transfer rate is obtained with the numerical model.