This article numerically investigates the buoyant convective flow and thermal transport enhancement of Cu–H2O nanoliquid in a differentially heated upright annulus having a thin baffle. For the analysis, the outer and inner cylinders are cooled and heated respectively through insulated top and lower boundaries. Also, the baffle temperature is assumed to be that of the hot cylinder. The finite difference based numerical technique is used to solve the system of equations governing the physical processes. The findings are accessible in terms isotherms, streamlines and Nu number for wider ranges of baffle positions and lengths, Rayleigh numbers, and by considering different nanofluid (NF) volume fractions. The average Nu number is enhanced in addition of the Cu nanoparticle to the base liquid and it is also found the liquid flow and heat transport can be successfully controlled via the appropriate selection of baffle location and length. Principally, the baffle length having 20% of annular width placed at 80% of the annular height has been found to produce higher thermal transport rates as compared to other choices of baffle lengths and positions.

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This article reports the numerical study of natural convection in a differentially heated cylindrical annular enclosure with a thin baffle attached to inner wall. The inner and outer walls of the annulus are respectively maintained at higher and lower temperatures, whereas the top and bottom walls are thermally insulated. Using an implicit finite difference technique, the effects of baffle size and location on natural convection has been investigated for different Rayleigh numbers and radius ratios by fixing the Prandtl number at 0.707. Through the detailed numerical simulations, we have successfully captured the important effects of baffle size and location on the flow pattern and heat transfer rate. It has been found that the size and location of baffle modify the flow pattern and heat transfer rate in a completely different conducts. The numerical results corroborates that the average heat transfer rate increases with the Rayleigh number, radius ratio, baffle position; but decreases with baffle length. Further, it has been observed that it is possible to enhance or suppress the flow circulation and heat transfer rates by a proper choice of baffle size and location, and Rayleigh number.

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