Convective Flow of a Colloidal Suspension in a Vertical Slot Heated from Side Wall

Convective flows and the transport of nanoparticles are numerically investigated in the vertical slot filled with a colloidal suspension and heated from the side. The thermodiffusion and gravitational sedimentation of the nanoparticles are taken into account. Two different regimes of laminar flow are found. The intensity of the first regime is much lower than in molecular liquids (the magnitudes of the convective and diffusion fluxes have the same order). The second regime is more intensive. The transitions between these two regimes are investigated. It is shown that intensive convective flow completely mixes the colloidal suspension to a homogeneous state as a result of the long transient process.