Multi view interferometric tomography measurements of convective phenomena in a differentially-heated nanofluid layer

ABSTRACT

Three-dimensional reconstructions of thermal field in a differentially heated cylindrical cavity with dilute concentrations of nanofluids as the working medium have been reported. Experiments have been conducted in a specially designed tomography cell filled with dilute concentrations of Al₂O₃ nanofluids with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGD) as the basefluid. The two horizontal walls of the cell have been differentially heated to apply the temperature potential across the fluid layer. Multiple projection data in the form of interferometric images have been recorded at every 20° view angle by slowly turning the cell over the range of 0 to 360°. The two-dimensional temperature fields retrieved through the quantitative analysis of interferometric images recorded at various view angles have been used to reconstruct the complete three-dimensional temperature field at select horizontal planes of the fluid layer. Iterative multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique (MART) has been employed for tomography reconstructions. Based on the tomography reconstructions, possible fluid movement in the test cavity and the strong dependence of convective field on varying nanofluid concentrations and cavity temperature differences have been explained. Distribution of local temperature fields near the cavity wall surfaces revealed the phenomena of breakdown of large length scale fluid structures into multiple roll-like patterns with increasing concentration of nanoparticles. The distribution of the local Nusselt number, on select horizontal planes near the top and bottom wall surfaces of the cavity, highlighted the possible role of nanoparticles enhancing the heat transfer rates. An overall energy balance in the cavity was also to be seen based on the reconstructions of the local profiles of Nusselt numbers.

KEYWORDS:

• Nanofluids
• natural convection
• noninvasive measurements
• interferometry
• Multi-view tomography
• convection

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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