Pressure gradient and an upstream cylinder on nanofluid flow around a heated cylinder: Heat transfer and entropy analysis

Abstract

This study numerically investigates the nanofluid flow around a long heated cylinder of square cross-section (DSC) with height placed parallel to a cold wall at a fixed gap height The incident flow is Couette–Poiseuille (C–P) flow. Another cylinder of rectangular cross section (UREP) is placed on the upstream side in an inline arrangement with different gap spacings between the cylinders. The base fluid is chosen as the water and ethylene glycol–water mixture. Numerical experiments are made using staggered grid arrangement on non–uniform grid, finite volume methods, and Semi–Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations algorithm. Impact of pressure gradient at the inlet (due to C–P flow), position and shape (square/rectangular) of the UREP, nanoparticle concentration, and base fluid on the crowding of isotherms around edges of the DSC and hence to the heat transfer characteristics (Nusselt number and entropy generation rate density) is investigated. Bejan number is used to ratify that the irreversibility due to heat transfer is the major constituent of the total system irreversibility here. A reduction of heat transfer and entropy generation from the values of an isolated DSC is natural here due to the inline arrangement. An effort is made to improve the heat transfer by reducing the height of the UREP or/and by generating unsteadiness in the incoming flow to the DSC using a bluffer UREP or/and an increased pressure gradient. Finally, some scenarios are reported where the heat transfer decrement is less in comparison to that of the total system irreversibility.