The effect of attack angle of triangular ribs on heat transfer of nanofluids in a microchannel

Abstract

In the present study, the effect of attack angle of triangular ribs, by using finite volume method, has been numerically studied in a two-dimensional microchannel. The cooling fluid is water/Ag nanofluid with volume fractions of 0–4% of nanoparticles, and nanoparticle diameters are 25, 50 and 75 nm. The nanofluid flow has been considered as laminar with Reynolds numbers of 5, 100 and 500. Also, the attack angles have been studied at the range of 30°–60°. In this study, the effects of variations in attack angles on triangular ribs, volume fraction of nanoparticles, nanoparticles diameter and Reynolds number have been investigated. The results indicate that using nanoparticles with smaller diameter improves heat transfer rate. Moreover, it is shown that the friction coefficient and pumping power are almost independent of nanoparticle diameter. However, increasing Reynolds number, pumping power enhancement becomes more important by increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles. In low Reynolds numbers, the influence of ribs is approximately insignificant on the streamlines; it is very effective in high Reynolds numbers. The existence of rib on the direction of fluid motion causes asymmetrical velocity profile in the top section of the rib. Using triangular rib with higher attack angle can improve heat transfer significantly due to the high-velocity gradients and better mixing of fluid flow.