Analyzing thermo-hydrodynamics of nanofluid flowing through a wavy U-turn channel

Abstract

In this paper, the thermo-hydrodynamics of Al2O3-water nanofluid in a wavy U-turn channel with hot walls is numerically investigated by means of lattice Boltzmann modeling. At first, the numerical technique is validated by simulating fluid flow in a (non-)wavy straight channel. Then, the effects of various active parameters, e.g. pressure gradient in the channel, nanoparticles volume fraction, and number of sinusoidal waves along the channel, on the flow field and heat transfer is studied. Furthermore, the thermal–hydraulic performance factor is determined to investigate whether heat transfer enhancement outweighs the greater frictional losses caused by both complex wavy wall geometry and nanoparticles. The results show that the heat transfer rises by increasing pressure gradient in the channel while drops by increasing number of waves. Also, the effect of nanoparticles volume fraction on dimensionless Nusselt number becomes more pronounced at higher pressure gradients. The results indicate that the thermal–hydraulic performance factor grows by increasing nanoparticles volume fraction or decreasing the number of waves.