There are few two-phase lattice Boltzmann models that consider the interaction forces between nanoparticles and a base fluid for natural convection in an enclosure. Xuan et al. [26] proposed a two-phase Lattice Boltzmann model to investigate sudden-start Couette flow and convection in parallel plate channels

without researching the effect of forces on volume fraction distribution of nanoparticles. Because these forces were not investigated before our work, the effects of forces between water and nanoparticles on the fluid flow patterns were unknown. In addition, as we know, the nanoparticles in the fluid easily gather together and deposit, especially at high volume fraction. Hence, the nanoparticle distribution in the fluid flow is important for nanofluid application, which is another selleck inhibitor objective in our paper. However, the single-phase model cannot be used to investigate nanoparticle distribution. Furthermore, natural convection of a TPCA-1 ic50 square enclosure (left wall kept at a high constant temperature (T H), and top wall kept at a low constant temperature (T C)) filled with nanofluid is not investigated in the published literatures. In this paper, a two-phase Lattice Boltzmann model is proposed and applied to investigate the natural convection of a square enclosure (left wall kept at a high

constant temperature (T H), and top wall kept at a low constant temperature (T C)) filled with Al2O3-water nanofluid and the inhomogeneous distribution of nanoparticles in the square enclosure. Methods Lattice Boltzmann method The density distribution function selleck chemical for a single-phase fluid is calculated as follows: (1) (2) where is the dimensionless collision-relaxation time for the flow field, e α is the lattice velocity vector, the subscript α represents the

lattice velocity direction, is the distribution function of the nanofluid with velocity e α (along the direction α) at lattice position r and time t, is the local equilibrium distribution function, δ t is the time step, δ x is the lattice step, the order numbers α = 1,…,4 and α = 5,…,8, respectively represent Paclitaxel manufacturer the rectangular directions and the diagonal directions of the lattice, is the external force term in the direction of the lattice velocity without interparticle interaction, G = - β(T nf  - T 0)g is the effective external force, where g is the gravity acceleration, β is the thermal expansion coefficient, T nf is the temperature of the nanofluid, and T 0 is the mean value of the high and low temperature of the walls. A nanofluid is a two-phase fluid constituted by nanoparticles and a base fluid, and there are interaction forces (gravity and buoyancy force, drag force, interaction potential force, and Brownian force) between nanoparticles and the base fluid. Thus, the macroscopic density and velocity fields are simulated using the density distribution function by adding the forces term.