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CFD studies on natural convection heat transfer of Al2O3-water nanofluids

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Abstract

This work is focused on numerical simulations of natural convection heat transfer in Al2O3-water nanofluids using computational fluid dynamics approach. Fluent v6.3 is used to simulate water based nanofluid considering it as a single phase. Thermo-physical properties of the nanofluids are considered in terms of volume fraction and size of nanoparticles, size of base fluid molecule and temperature. The numerical values of effective thermal conductivity have also been compared with the experimental values available in the literature. The numerical result simulated shows decrease in heat transfer with increase in particle volume fraction. Computed result shows similar trend in increase of Nusselt number with Relayigh number as depicted by experimental results. Streamlines and temperature profiles are plotted to demonstrate the effect.

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Abbreviations

A m :

Surface area of the fluid particle

C pf :

Specific heat of fluid

C pp :

Specific heat of particle

g :

Acceleration due to gravity

h :

Heat transfer coefficient

T H :

Temperature of hot wall

T L :

Temperature of cold wall

k eff :

Effective thermal conductivity

k f :

Thermal conductivity of the fluid

k p :

Thermal conductivity of nanoparticle

L :

Length of the cylindrical fluid container

N u :

Nusselt number

Q :

Input power

r p :

Radius of fluid particle

R a :

Rayleigh number

T :

Nanofluid temperature

T ref :

Reference temperature (293 K)

μ f :

Viscosity of the base fluid

μ o :

Reference viscosity of water

ρ f :

Density of fluid

ρ :

Density

ρ p :

Density of nanoparticle

φ :

Volume fraction of nanoparticle

η n :

Kinematic viscosity of the nanofluid

α n :

Thermal diffusivity of the nanofluid

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research Group (NANORG), International Islamic University Malaysia, P. O Box 10, 50728, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    W. Rashmi, A. F. Ismail, M. Khalid & Y. Faridah

Authors
  1. W. Rashmi
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  2. A. F. Ismail
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  3. M. Khalid
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  4. Y. Faridah
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Correspondence to W. Rashmi.

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Rashmi, W., Ismail, A.F., Khalid, M. et al. CFD studies on natural convection heat transfer of Al2O3-water nanofluids. Heat Mass Transfer 47, 1301–1310 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-011-0792-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-011-0792-x

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