Investigation of corrugated channel performance with different wave shapes

Abstract

A parametric analysis is performed on Al2O3–water nanofluid flow through the heated corrugated channels. The mixture approach is adopted to model the Al2O3–water nanofluid flow, and the finite volume method is applied for the discretization of governing equations. The numerical procedure is validated for the straight channel by using the available correlations. The studied parameters are the wave shape (triangular, trapezoidal, and sinusoidal), phase shift (0, π/2, and π), nanoparticle concentration (0–4%), and Reynolds number (6000–22,000). It is found that the trapezoidal configuration proposes the highest values of Nusselt number, while the sinusoidal one offers the best overall hydrothermal performance. Also, the results show that the channel with lower phase shift presents a better hydrothermal performance. The heat transfer rate and performance index enhance with the increase in Al2O3 nanoparticle volume fraction. Further, new correlations are presented for the subsided cases.