Nature suggests that complex materials result from a hierarchical organization of matter at different length scales. At the nano- and micrometer scale, macromolecules and supramolecular aggregates spontaneously assemble into supracolloidal structures whose complexity is given by the coexistence of various colloidal entities and the specific interactions between them.
A two-phase model based on the double-diffusive approach is used to perform a numerical study of natural convection of alumina-water nanofluids in differentially heated vertical slender cavities. In the mathematical formulation, Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis are assumed to be the only slip mechanisms by which the solid phase can develop a significant relative velocity with respect to the liquid phase.
© Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" - Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma
