Numerical investigations on the turbulent forced convection of nanofluids flow in a triangular-corrugated channel

Abstract

In this paper, turbulent forced convection of nanofluids flow in triangular-corrugated channels is numerically investigated over Reynolds number ranges of 1000–5000. Four different types of nanofluids which are Al2O3, CuO, SiO2 and ZnO–water with nanoparticles diameters in the range of 30–70nm and the range of nanoparticles volume fraction from 0% to 4% have been considered. The governing equations of mass, momentum and energy are solved using finite volume method (FVM). The low Reynolds number k–ε model of Launder and Sharma is adopted as well. It is found that the average Nusselt number, pressure drop, heat transfer enhancement, thermal–hydraulic performance increase with increasing in the volume fraction of nanoparticles and with decreasing in the diameter of nanoparticles. Furthermore, the SiO2–water nanofluid provides the highest thermal–hydraulic performance among other types of nanofluids followed by Al2O3, ZnO and CuO–water nanofluids. Moreover, the pure water has the lowest heat transfer enhancement as well as thermal–hydraulic performance.