Modeling the natural convective flow of micropolar nanofluids

A micropolar model for nanofluidic suspensions is proposed in order to investigate theoretically the natural convection of nanofluids. The microrotation of the nanoparticles seems to play a significant role into flow regime and in that manner it possibly can interpret the controversial experimental data and theoretical numerical results over the natural convection of nanofluids. Natural convection of a nanofluid in a square cavity is studied and computations are performed for Rayleigh number values up to 106, for a range of solid volume fractions (0 ≤ φ ≤ 0.2) and, different types of nanoparticles (Cu, Ag, Al2O3 and TiO 2). The theoretical results show that the microrotation of the nanoparticles in suspension in general decreases overall heat transfer from the heated wall and should not therefore be neglected when computing heat and fluid flow of micropolar fluids, as nanofluids. The validity of the proposed model is depicted by comparing the numerical results obtained with available experimental and theoretical data. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.