Numerical investigation of various nanofluid heat transfers in microchannel under the effect of partial magnetic field: lattice Boltzmann approach

Abstract

In the present paper, the effect of the external partial magnetic field is studied on the flow and heat transfer of various nanofluids in a microchannel via the incompressible preconditioned lattice Boltzmann method. The simulations are performed for various parameters such as Hartmann number (Ha) ranging from 0 to 40 and surface non-dimensional slip coefficient (B) of 0–0.03. The nanofluid volume fraction is fixed at 1%, and the results are compared with pure water. The effect of using different nanoparticles (Al2O3, CuO, Ag, and Fe) has been investigated on the Nusselt number. The acceptable results are obtained by comparing numerical and experimental data. The results generally show that using Ag and CuO nanoparticles, respectively, leads to the best and worst heat transfer rate. Eventually, the highest and lowest Nusselt numbers are from these nanoparticles, where Ag and Al2O3 give the worst and best stress rates. It is found that for a specific requirement of microchannels in heat transfer application, there would be a certain nanofluid by specific nanoparticles. This novel study opens discussion by proposing a new alternative way to improve the heat transfer in microchannel which is applicable to the systems where microchannel is used as heat sinks.