Numerical Study on Thermal-Hydraulic Performance and Entropy Generation of Nanofluid Flow in Channel with Oval Baffles

Abstract

In the present study, laminar forced convection of nanofluid flow in channel with oval baffles have been numerically investigated. The governing equations in terms of body-fitted coordinates are discretized using finite volume method and then iteratively solved using SIMPLE technique. The dimensionless baffle heights of 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 have been considered. SiO2-water nanofluid with nanoparticles volume fraction at 4% and nanoparticles diameters of 30 nm has been considered for Reynolds number ranging from 100 to 1000. The effect of Reynolds number and baffles height on the average Nusselt number, pressure drop, entropy generation and thermal-hydraulic performance have been presented and discussed. Results show that average Nusselt number, pressure drop, entropy generation increase with increasing baffle height and Reynolds number. Moreover, using oval baffles with baffles height of 0.2 or 0.3 (depend on Reynolds number) can be provided the best thermal-hydraulic performance Therefore, using nanofluid instead of traditional heat transfer fluids as well as the using oval baffles inside channels can potentially achieve considerable improvement in thermal performance, which can lead to design more compact heat exchangers.