Heat transfer of nanofluid sandwiched between regular fluid

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the convective heat transfer of different nanofluids flowing through a vertical duct. A three layer fluid flow model with the nanofluid sandwiched between regular fluids is formulated in this paper. Numerical solutions are acquired to the governing Navier-Stokes equations in all the three regions. The viscous dissipation term is included in the energy equation by applying suitable matching boundary and interface conditions. Analytical solutions have been obtained for the velocity and temperature distributions in the channel. The effect of governing parameters such as Grashof number, Brinkman number, nanoparticle volume fraction on the flow is analyzed using Copper as nanoparticle and water as a base fluid. The effect of different nanoparticles such as Silicon oxide, Titanium oxide, Diamond, Copper and Silver on the velocity, temperature, Nusselt number and skin friction is also studied and are reported in the form of figures and tables. The results display that the Grashof number and Brinkman number enhances the flow in all the three regions whereas nanoparticle volume fraction suppress the flow in the duct. The optimum flow is obtained using Silver as a nanoparticle. © 2018 by American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.