Hydrodynamic Analysis of Laminar Mixed Convective Flow of Ag-TiO2-Water Hybrid Nanofluid in a Horizontal Annulus

Abstract

Nanofluids occupy a large place in many fields of technology due its improved heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics. Very recently, a new type of nanofluid, known as hybrid nanofluid, which consists of a mixture of two different nanoparticles suspended in the base fluid has been found to be the most emerging heat transfer fluid. It is well also established that entrance region effect enhances heat transfer rate. The present study deals with numerical investigations of the hydrodynamic behavior of the laminar mixed convective flow of a hybrid nanofluid in the entrance region of a horizontal annulus. A thermal boundary condition of uniform heat flux at the inner wall and an adiabatic outer wall is selected. The SIMPLER numerical algorithm is adopted in the present study. The hybrid nanofluid consists of water as base fluid and Ag-TiO2 as nanoparticles. The ratio of Ag to TiO2 is maintained as 1:3. The objective of the current study is mainly to analyze the hydrodynamic behavior hybrid nanofluid in the entrance region. The investigation reveals that the effect of the secondary flow due to the buoyancy forces is more intense in the upper part of the annular cross-section. It increases throughout the cross-section until its intensity reaches a maximum and then it becomes weak far downstream. The development of axial flow and temperature field is strongly influenced by the buoyancy forces.