Convective heat transfer performance of hybrid nanofluid in a horizontal pipe considering nanoparticles shapes effect

Abstract

In this paper, the problem of steady forced convection heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a hybrid nanofluid flowing through an isothermally heated horizontal tube considering various nanoparticle shapes has been investigated numerically. The three dimensionless cylindrical coordinate equations are discretized using the finite volume method and solved via a FORTRAN program. A numerical parametric investigation is carried out for a tube filled with regular water, (TiO2/water) nanofluid and (Ag–TiO2/water) hybrid nanofluid. Four different types of nanoparticle shapes are considered in this study, spherical, cylindrical, platelets and blades, with different volume fractions ranging from 0 to 8% using water as a base liquid. The influence of nanoparticle shape, nanoparticle concentration and Reynolds number on the local Nusselt number and the friction factor is essentially examined. The results showed that the friction factor of both nanofluid and hybrid nanofluid flow was increased as the nanoparticle volume fraction increased for all kinds of nanoparticle shapes, whereas it decreased as the Reynolds number increased. Nusselt number increased with increase in the nanoparticle concentration and Reynolds number. The highest heat transfer rate was acquired for the maximum nanoparticle volume concentration by using blade nanoparticle shape followed by platelet shape, cylindrical shape and lastly the sphere shape. It was found that the maximum values of the friction factor were registered for platelet-shape nanoparticles.