Developing the laminar MHD forced convection flow of water/FMWNT carbon nanotubes in a microchannel imposed the uniform heat flux

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate magnetic field and slip effects on developing laminar forced convection of nanofluids in the microchannels. A novel mixture of water and FMWNT carbon nanotubes is used as the working fluid. To do this, fluid flow and heat transfer through a microchannel is simulated by a computer code in FORTRAN language. The mixture of FMWNT carbon nanotubes suspended in water is considered as the nanofluid. Slip velocity is supposed as the hydrodynamic boundary condition while the microchannel's lower wall is insulated and the top wall is under the effect of a constant heat flux. Moreover, the flow field is subjected to a magnetic field with a constant strength. The results are presented as the velocity, temperature and Nusselt number profiles. It is observed that nanofluid composed of water and carbon nanotubes (FMWNT) can work well to increase the heat transfer rate along the microchannel walls. Furthermore, it is indicated that imposing the magnetic field is very effective at the thermally developing region. In contrast, the magnetic field effect at fully developed region is insignificant, especially at low values of Reynolds number.