Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2015) 130: 238
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2015-15238-6

Regular Article

Numerical analysis of natural convection for non-Newtonian fluid conveying nanoparticles between two vertical parallel plates

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, Babol, Iran

^* e-mail: sahebii@yahoo.com

Received: 15 August 2015
Accepted: 21 October 2015
Published online: 1 December 2015

Abstract

In this paper, natural convection of non-Newtonian bio-nanofluids flow between two vertical flat plates is investigated numerically. Sodium Alginate (SA) and Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose (SCMC) are considered as the base non-Newtonian fluid, and nanoparticles such as Titania ( TiO₂ and Alumina ( Al₂O₃ were added to them. The effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids are calculated through Maxwell-Garnetts (MG) and Brinkman models, respectively. A fourth-order Runge-Kutta numerical method (NUM) and three Weighted Residual Methods (WRMs), Collocation (CM), Galerkin (GM) and Least-Square Method (LSM) and Finite-Element Method (FEM), are used to solve the present problem. The influence of some physical parameters such as nanofluid volume friction on non-dimensional velocity and temperature profiles are discussed. The results show that SCMC- TiO₂ has higher velocity and temperature values than other nanofluid structures.