Multi-membranes-based pumping flow of nanofluids: Application in thermofluidic system

Abstract

Microscale heat transfer plays a crucial role in various smart thermal devices such as microchannel heat sinks, micro heat pipes, and thermosyphons, as well as in bio microfluidics applications where biological fluids are being transported via natural pumping mechanisms. Inspired by the importance of microscale heat transfer, a biothermal-based pumping flow model integrating membrane-based pumping mechanism and nanofluids is developed mathematically. A Ghost-Valve model for membrane pumping is adopted based on Yasser’s model. Conservation principles for mass, momentum, energy, and nanoparticle volume fraction are considered for the mathematical formulation. The main objectives of this bio-thermo-physical model are to provide insights into pressure gradients, velocity distributions, volumetric flow rates, shear stress, streamlines, isotherms, nanoparticle volume fraction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number under the effects of key parameters. Additionally, entropy generation analysis is presented with variation of thermal Grashof number, basic density Grashof number, Brinkmann number, and relative temperature on system performance. An analytical approach has been employed to derive the solutions under low Reynolds number approximation, and results are computationally analyzed using MATLAB code. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of membrane-based pumps in controlling microfluidic flow and heat transfer within microchannels and it is reported that velocity field enhances in magnitude with increasing the time phase lag parameter. This model will also present a benchmark for various future models to be developed for the nanofluids flow with various combinations of nanoparticles and base fluids through various flow regimes to be utilized for various purposes of the thermal systems/energy systems and offering valuable insights for optimizing thermal-based pumping systems in microscale applications.