Influence of container material on the heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids

The average and local thermal conductivity measurements of water-based Ag-nanofluid held in polypropylene and metallic containers using transient hot-wire method revealed a new phenomenon. The local thermal conductivity of water-based Ag nanofluid measured at different locations of containers was found to depend strongly upon the metallic container, but not on the polypropylene container. Similar observations have been found in water-based NiAl nanofluid, but not in water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluid. In contrast, this phenomenon was not observed for ethylene glycol-based Ag nanofluid, possibly due to the insignificant charge on the container wall, which partly explains the diversity in thermal conductivity by different researchers.     

Heat transfer enhancement by combination of serpentine curves and nanofluid flow in microtube

Heat transfer and flow characteristics of Cu/water nanofluids' flow in the serpentine microtubes are investigated experimentally. The serpentine microtubes are fabricated by bending a straight copper microtube with an inner diameter of 787 μm. Also, the Cu/water nanofluids are prepared using a novel one-step technique, namely electro-exploded wire. The effects of serpentine microtubes' geometrical parameters (pitch spacing, p, and straight section, l) and nanofluid concentration (weight fraction, φ) are examined. It is found that the heat transfer enhances by decreasing both the pitch spacing and the straight section of the serpentine microtube as well as increasing the weight fraction of the nanofluid. Also, the results show that the friction factor tends to increase in the same manner. A noticeable average enhancement in the thermal performance factor of 21.8% is obtained for a specific operating condition, i.e., the nanofluid at φ = 0.3% through the serpentine microtube with p = 9.6 mm and l = 10 mm. Finally, two correlations of Nusselt number and friction factor for the Cu/water nanofluids across the serpentine microtubes are proposed.     

Integral treatment for forced convection heat and mass transfer of nanofluids over linear stretching sheet

An integral treatment is proposed for the analysis of the forced convection flow of a nanofluid over a stretching sheet.The obtained results agree well with the numerical results.The results of the presented solution provide an analytic solution,which can be conveniently used in engineering applications.Four types of nanoparticles,i.e.,alumina（Al₂O₃）,silicon dioxide（SiO₂）,silver（Ag）,and copper（Cu）,dispersed in the base fluid of water are examined.The analytical results show that an increase in the volume fraction of nanoparticles increases the thickness of the thermal boundary layer.The reduced Nusselt number is a decreasing function of the volume fraction of nanoparticles.     

Instability of binary nanofluids with magnetic field

The present paper investigates the effects of a vertical magnetic field on the double diffusive nanofluid convection. The effects of the Brownian motion and thermophoresis due to the presence of nanoparticles and the effects of the Dufour and Soret parameters due to the presence of solute are included in the investigated model. The normal mode technique is used to solve the conservation equations. For the analytical study, valid approximations are made in the complex expression for the Rayleigh number to get useful and interesting results. The bottom heavy binary nanofluids are more stable than the regular binary fluids, while the top heavy binary nanofluids are less stable than the regular binary fluids. The critical wave number and the critical Rayleigh number increase whereas the frequency of oscillation (for the bottom heavy configuration) decreases when the Chandrasekhar number increases. The numerical results for the alumina-water nanofluid are studied by use of the MATHEMATICA software.     

Second-order slip MHD flow and heat transfer of nanofluids with thermal radiation and chemical reaction

The effects of the second-order velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions on the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow and heat transfer in the presence of nanoparticle fractions are investigated. In the modeling of the water-based nanofluids containing Cu and Al₂O₃, the effects of the Brownian motion, thermophoresis, and thermal radiation are considered. The governing boundary layer equations are transformed into a system of nonlinear differential equations, and the analytical approximations of the solutions are derived by the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The reliability and efficiency of the HAM solutions are verified by the residual errors and the numerical results in the literature. Moreover, the effects of the physical factors on the flow and heat transfer are discussed graphically.     

Mixed convection in gravity-driven nano-liquid film containing both nanoparticles and gyrotactic microorganisms

Analysis of a gravity-induced film flow of a fluid containing both nanoparticles and gyrotactic microorganisms along a convectively heated vertical surface is presented. The Buongiorno model is applied. Two kinds of boundary conditions, the passive and the active boundary conditions, are considered to investigate this film flow phenomenon. Through a set of similarity variables, the ordinary differential equations that describe the conservation of the momentum, the thermal energy, the nanoparticles, and the microorganisms are derived and then solved numerically by an efficient finite difference technique. The effects of various physical parameters on the profiles of momentum, thermal energy, nanoparticles, microorganisms, local skin friction, local Nusselt number, local wall mass flux, and local wall motile microorganisms flux are investigated. It is expected that the passively controlled nanofluid model can be much more easily achieved and applied in real circumstances than the actively controlled model.     

A model of nanofluids effective thermal conductivity based on dimensionless groups

Thermal conductivity is an important parameter in the field of nanofluid heat transfer. This article presents a novel model for the prediction of the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids based on dimensionless groups. The model expresses the thermal conductivity of a nanofluid as a function of the thermal conductivity of the solid and liquid, their volume fractions, particle size and interfacial shell properties. According to this model, thermal conductivity changes nonlinearly with nanoparticle loading. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data of alumina-water and alumina-ethylene glycol based nanofluids.     

Natural convection of nanofluid over vertical plate embedded in porous medium: prescribed surface heat flux

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the natural convection heat and mass transfer of nanofluids over a vertical plate embedded in a saturated Darcy porous medium subjected to surface heat and nanoparticle fluxes. To carry out the numerical solution, two steps are performed. The governing partial differential equations are firstly simplified into a set of highly coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations by appropriate similarity variables, and then numerically solved by the finite difference method. The obtained similarity solution depends on four non-dimensional parameters, i.e., the Brownian motion parameter (N _b), the Buoyancy ratio (N _r), the thermophoresis parameter (N _t), and the Lewis number (Le). The variations of the reduced Nusselt number and the reduced Sherwood number with N _b and N _t for various values of Le and N _r are discussed in detail. Simulation results depict that the increase in N _b, N _t, or N _r decreases the reduced Nusselt number. An increase in the Lewis number increases both of the reduced Nusselt number and the Sherwood number. The results also reveal that the nanoparticle concentration boundary layer thickness is much thinner than those of the thermal and hydrodynamic boundary layers.     

Similarity solutions to viscous flow and heat transfer of nanofluid over nonlinearly stretching sheet

The boundary-layer flow and heat transfer in a viscous fluid containing metallic nanoparticles over a nonlinear stretching sheet are analyzed. The stretching velocity is assumed to vary as a power function of the distance from the origin. The governing partial differential equation and auxiliary conditions are reduced to coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations with the appropriate corresponding auxiliary conditions. The resulting nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are solved numerically. The effects of various relevant parameters, namely, the Eckert number Ec, the solid volume fraction of the nanoparticles φ, and the nonlinear stretching parameter n are discussed. The comparison with published results is also presented. Different types of nanoparticles are studied. It is shown that the behavior of the fluid flow changes with the change of the nanoparticles type.     

Lie symmetry group transformation for MHD natural convection flow of nanofluid over linearly porous stretching sheet in presence of thermal stratification

The magnetohydrodynamics(MHD) convection flow and heat transfer of an incompressible viscous nanofluid past a semi-infinite vertical stretching sheet in the presence of thermal stratification are examined.The partial differential equations governing the problem under consideration are transformed by a special form of the Lie symmetry group transformations,i.e.,a one-parameter group of transformations into a system of ordinary differential equations which are numerically solved using the Runge-Kutta-Gillbased shooting method.It is concluded that the flow field,temperature,and nanoparticle volume fraction profiles are significantly influenced by the thermal stratification and the magnetic field.