Heat transport augmentation in closed chambers can be achieved using nanofluids and extended heat transfer surfaces. This research is devoted to the computational analysis of natural convection energy transport and entropy emission within a closed region, with isothermal vertical borders and a heat-conducting solid fin placed on the hot border. Horizontal walls were assumed to be adiabatic. Control relations written using non-primitive variables with experimentally based correlations for nanofluid properties were computed by the finite difference technique. The impacts of the fin size, fin position, and nanoadditive concentration on energy transfer performance and entropy production were studied. It was found that location of the long fin near the bottom wall allowed for the intensification of convective heat transfer within the chamber. Moreover, this position was characterized by high entropy generation. Therefore, the minimization of the entropy generation can define the optimal location of the heat-conducting fin using the obtained results. An addition of nanoparticles reduced the heat transfer strength and minimized the entropy generation.
Keywords: differentially heated cavity; entropy generation; nanofluid; natural convection; numerical simulation; solid fin.