Review on Nano-Fluids Applications and Heat Transfer Enhancement Techniques in Different Enclosures

Abstract

Nano-fluid applications span such a broad range of topics in the practical field that they demand their own review articles. In this review paper, the use of magnetic fields, porous media, and Nano-fluids in different heat transfer applications is discussed mainly in the solar thermal field. It has been proven that the employment of these techniques provides significant enhancement results for convective flows especially when they are combined, also the mathematical equations used to model this type of flow are summarized. In addition, different studies reported that the geometrical parameters of the enclosures can also effect the flow. In this context, recently scholars maintained many investigations on complex shaped cavities and their impact on heat transfer. These studies showed promising results for the use of this type of geometries especially for the trapezoidal ones. As reviewed in this paper, trapezoidal geometries and their properties strongly effect the convective flow in a great way leading to considerable enhancement. Overall, this review aims to present an insightful vision on different heat transfer improvement techniques and values the use of these methods in trapezoidal geometries for solar heat transfer applications.