Prandtl number effect on cooling performance of a heated cylinder in an enclosure filled with nanofluid

Natural convection heat transfer from a heated cylinder contained in a square enclosure filled with water–Cu nanofluid is investigated numerically. The main objective of this study is to explore the influence of pertinent parameters such as Prandtl number (Pr) and diameter (D) of the heated body on the flow and heat transfer performance of nanofluids while Rayleigh number (Ra) and the solid particle volume fraction (ϕ) of nanoparticle are considered fixed. The results obtained from finite element method clearly indicate that heat transfer augmentation is possible using highly viscous nanofluid resulting in the compactness of many industrial devices.