Abstract
An optimized configuration for cooling triangular heat chips through the flow and heat transfer of a SiO2-based nanofluid via a porous E-shaped enclosure is analyzed computationally. The left wall of the enclosure is wavy. The upper and bottom walls are cold, while the remaining ones are adiabatic. A triangular heat source is also present near the left cavity wall. The equations governing the flow and heat transfer are developed. The finite volume method is employed to solve the derived equations. The Buongiorno two-phase model is employed for modeling the nanofluid particle migration and heat transfer. All thermophysical properties of base fluid are functions of temperature. To increase the accuracy of the results, all the temperature-dependent thermophysical properties of water were considered and calculated during the implementation of the code in each node. The impacts of various parameters, such as the nanoparticle volume fraction, the heat source location, the number of waves of the wavy wall, and the aspect ratio of the cavity, on the thermal and hydrodynamic behaviors of the nanofluid, are assessed. The outcomes are graphically presented in the form of isotherms and contours of concentration and velocity, as well as in the variation of Nusselt number. The entropy generation is also tracked in order to evaluate the thermal performance of the system. The results show that the volume fraction of the nanoparticles and the number of waves have a limited effect on heat transfer. It is also shown that the thermal performance can be increased by 44% by reducing the cavity aspect ratio from 0.32 to 0.125 or by moving the heat source toward the upper or lower walls.