Effects of variable viscosity and thermal conductivity of Al2O3–water nanofluid on heat transfer enhancement in natural convection

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiyad Abu-Nada
2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 725-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ghalambaz ◽  
E. Izadpanahi ◽  
A. Noghrehabadi ◽  
A. Chamkha

The boundary layer heat and mass transfer of nanofluids over an isothermal stretching sheet is analyzed using a drift-flux model. The relative slip velocity between the nanoparticles and the base fluid is taken into account. The nanoparticles’ volume fractions at the surface of the sheet are considered to be adjusted passively. The thermal conductivity and the dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid are considered as functions of the local volume fraction of the nanoparticles. A non-dimensional parameter, heat transfer enhancement ratio, is introduced, which shows the alteration of the thermal convective coefficient of the nanofluid compared to the base fluid. The governing partial differential equations are reduced into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations using appropriate similarity transformations and then solved numerically using the fourth-order Runge–Kutta and Newton–Raphson methods along with the shooting technique. The effects of six non-dimensional parameters, namely, the Prandtl number of the base fluid Prbf, Lewis number Le, Brownian motion parameter Nb, thermophoresis parameter Nt, variable thermal conductivity parameter Nc and the variable viscosity parameter Nv, on the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles as well as the reduced Nusselt number and the enhancement ratio are investigated. Finally, case studies for Al2O3 and Cu nanoparticles dispersed in water are performed. It is found that increases in the ambient values of the nanoparticles volume fraction cause decreases in both the dimensionless shear stress f″(0) and the reduced Nusselt number Nur. Furthermore, an augmentation of the ambient value of the volume fraction of nanoparticles results in an increase the heat transfer enhancement ratio hnf/hbf. Therefore, using nanoparticles produces heat transfer enhancement from the sheet.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuping Duan ◽  
S. F. Hosseinizadeh ◽  
J. M. Khodadadi

The effects of insulated and isothermal thin baffles on pseudosteady-state natural convection within spherical containers were studied computationally. The computations are based on an iterative, finite-volume numerical procedure using primitive dependent variables. Natural convection effect is modeled via the Boussinesq approximation. Parametric studies were performed for a Prandtl number of 0.7. For Rayleigh numbers of 104, 105, 106, and 107, baffles with three lengths positioned at five different locations were investigated (120 cases). The fluid that is heated adjacent to the sphere rises replacing the colder fluid, which sinks downward through the stratified stable thermal layer. For high Ra number cases, the hot fluid at the bottom of the sphere is also observed to rise along the symmetry axis and encounter the sinking colder fluid, thus causing oscillations in the temperature and flow fields. Due to flow obstruction (blockage or confinement) effect of baffles and also because of the extra heating afforded by the isothermal baffle, multi-cell recirculating vortices are observed. This additional heat is directly linked to creation of another recirculating vortex next to the baffle. In effect, hot fluid is directed into the center of the sphere disrupting thermal stratified layers. For the majority of the baffles investigated, the Nusselt numbers were generally lower than the reference cases with no baffle. The extent of heat transfer modification depends on Ra, length, and location of the extended surface. With an insulated baffle, the lowest amount of absorbed heat corresponds to a baffle positioned horizontally. Placing a baffle near the top of the sphere for high Ra number cases can lead to heat transfer enhancement that is linked to disturbance of the thermal boundary layer. With isothermal baffles, heat transfer enhancement is achieved for a baffle placed near the bottom of the sphere due to interaction of the counterclockwise rotating vortex and the stratified layer. For some high Ra cases, strong fluctuations of the flow and thermal fields indicating departure from the pseudosteady-state were observed.


Lab on a Chip ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (17) ◽  
pp. 3419-3426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pyshar Yi ◽  
Robiatun A. Awang ◽  
Wayne S. T. Rowe ◽  
Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh ◽  
Khashayar Khoshmanesh

This work introduces a method to enhance the thermal conductivity of PDMS microfluidic platforms through the use of PDMS/Al2O3 nanocomposites.


1980 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Sparrow ◽  
C. Prakash

An analysis has been performed to determine whether, in natural convection, a staggered array of discrete vertical plates yields enhanced heat transfer compared with an array of continuous parallel vertical plates having the same surface area. The heat transfer results were obtained by numerically solving the equations of mass, momentum, and energy for the two types of configurations. It was found that the use of discrete plates gives rise to heat transfer enhancement when the parameter (Dh/H)Ra > ∼2 × 103 (Dh = hydraulic diameter of flow passage, H = overall system height). The extent of the enhancement is increased by use of numerous shorter plates, by larger transverse interplate spacing, and by relatively short system heights. For the parameter ranges investigated, the maximum heat transfer enhancement, relative to the parallel plate case, was a factor of two. The general degree of enhancement compares favorably with that which has been obtained in forced convection systems.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 3822-3856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirmal Kumar Manna ◽  
Nirmalendu Biswas ◽  
Pallab Sinha Mahapatra

Purpose This study aims to enhance natural convection heat transfer for a porous thermal cavity. Multi-frequency sinusoidal heating is applied at the bottom of a porous square cavity, considering top wall adiabatic and cooling through the sidewalls. The different frequencies, amplitudes and phase angles of sinusoidal heating are investigated to understand their major impacts on the heat transfer characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The finite volume method is used to solve the governing equations in a two-dimensional cavity, considering incompressible laminar flow, Boussinesq approximation and Brinkman–Forchheimer–Darcy model. The mean-temperature constraint is applied for enhancement analysis. Findings The multi-frequency heating can markedly enhance natural convection heat transfer even in the presence of porous medium (enhancement up to ∼74 per cent). Only the positive phase angle offers heat transfer enhancement consistently in all frequencies (studied). Research limitations/implications The present research idea can usefully be extended to other multi-physical areas (nanofluids, magneto-hydrodynamics, etc.). Practical implications The findings are useful for devices working on natural convection. Originality/value The enhancement using multi-frequency heating is estimated under different parametric conditions. The effect of different frequencies of sinusoidal heating, along with the uniform heating, is collectively discussed from the fundamental point of view using the average and local Nusselt number, thermal and hydrodynamic boundary layers and heatlines.


Author(s):  
Xuan Wu ◽  
Ranganathan Kumar ◽  
Parveen Sachdeva

Nanofluids that consist of nanometer sized particles and fibers dispersed in base liquids have shown the potential to enhance the heat transfer performance. Although three features of nanofluids including anomalously high thermal conductivities at very low nanoparticle concentrations, strongly temperature dependent thermal conductivity and significant increases in critical heat flux have been studied widely, and layering of liquid molecules at the particle-liquid interface, ballistic nature of heat transport in nanoparticles, and nanoparticle clustering are considered as the possible causations responsible for such kind of heat transfer enhancement, few research work from atomic-scale has been done to verify or explain those fascinating features of nanofluids. In this paper, a molecular dynamic model, which incorporates the atomic interactions for silica by BKS potential with a SPC/E model for water, has been established. To ensure the authenticity of our model, the position of each atom in the nanoparticle is derived by the crystallographic method. The interfacial interactions between the nanoparticle and water are simplified as the sum of interaction between many ions. Due to the electrostatic interaction, the ions on the nanoparticle’s surface can attract a certain number of water molecules, therefore, the effect of interaction between the nanoparticle and water on heat transfer enhancement in nanofluids is studied. By using Green-Kubo equations which set a bridge between thermal conductivity and time autocorrelation function of the heat current, a model which may derive thermal conductivity of dilute nanofluids that consist of silica nanoparticles and pure water is built. Several simulation results have been provided which can reveal the possible mechanism of heat enhancement in nanofluids.


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