Numerical investigation of laminar flow and heat transfer in a radial flow cooling system with the use of nanofluids

Nanofluids, because of their enhanced heat transfer capability as compared to normal water/glycol/oil based fluids, offer the engineer opportunities for development in areas where high heat transfer, low temperature tolerance and small component size are required. In this present paper, the hydrodynamic and thermal fields of a water–γAl₂O₃ nanofluid in a radial laminar flow cooling system are considered. Results indicate that considerable heat transfer enhancement is possible, even achieving a twofold increase in the case of a 10% nanoparticle volume fraction nanofluid. On the other hand, an increase in wall shear stress is also noticed with an increase in particle volume concentration.     

Heat transfer behaviour of nanofluids in a uniformly heated circular tube fitted with helical inserts in laminar flow

The CFD simulation of heat transfer characteristics of a nanofluid in a circular tube fitted with helical twist inserts under constant heat flux has been explained using Fluent version 6.3.26 in laminar flow. Al₂O₃ nanoparticles in water of 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% concentrations and helical twist inserts of twist ratios 2.93, 3.91 and 4.89 has been used for the simulation. All thermophysical properties of nanofluids are temperature dependent. The heat transfer enhancement increases with Reynolds number and decreases with twist ratio with maximum for the twist ratio 2.93. By comparing the heat transfer rates of water and nanofluids, the increase in Nusselt number is 5%–31% for different helical inserts and different volume concentrations. The maximum heat transfer enhancement is 31.29% for helical insert of twist ratio 2.93 and for the volume concentration of 1.5% corresponding to the Reynolds number of 2039. The data obtained by simulation match with the literature value of water with the discrepancy of less than ±10% for plain tube and tube fitted with helical tape inserts for Nusselt number.     

Numerical simulation of laminar forced convection of water-CuO nanofluid inside a triangular duct

In this article, distilled water and CuO particles with volume fraction of 1%, 2% and 4% are numerically studied. The steady state flow regime is considered laminar with Reynolds number of 100, and nano-particles diameters are assumed 20 nm and 80 nm. The hydraulic diameter and the length of equilateral triangular channel are 8 mm and 1000 mm, respectively. The problem is solved for two different boundary conditions; firstly, constant heat flux for all sides as a validation approach; and secondly, constant heat flux for two sides and constant temperature for one side (hot plate). Convective heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number, pressure loss through the channel, velocity distribution in cross section and temperature distribution on walls are investigated in detail. The fluid flow is supposed to be one-phase flow. It can be observed that nano-fluid leads to a remarkable enhancement on heat transfer coefficient. Furthermore, CuO particles increase pressure loss through the channel and velocity distribution in fully developed cross section of channel, as well. The computations reveal that the size of nano-particles has no significant influence on heat transfer properties. Besides, the study shows a good agreement between provided outcomes and experimental data available in the literature.     

Heat transfer behaviours of nanofluids in a uniformly heated tube

In the present work, we consider the problem of the forced convection flow of water– γAl₂O₃ and ethylene glycol– γAl₂O₃ nanofluids inside a uniformly heated tube that is submitted to a constant and uniform heat flux at the wall. In general, it is observed that the inclusion of nanoparticles has increased considerably the heat transfer at the tube wall for both the laminar and turbulent regimes. Such improvement of heat transfer becomes more pronounced with the increase of the particle concentration. On the other hand, the presence of particles has produced adverse effects on the wall friction that also increases with the particle volume concentration. Results have also shown that the ethylene glycol– γAl₂O₃ mixture gives a far better heat transfer enhancement than the water– γAl₂O₃ mixture.     

Numerical study of heat transfer enhancement of counter nanofluids flow in rectangular microchannel heat exchanger

This paper reports a numerical analysis of the performance of a counter-flow rectangular shaped microchannel heat exchanger (MCHE) using nanofluids as the working fluids. Finite volume method was used to solve the three-dimensional steady, laminar developing flow and conjugate heat transfer in aluminum MCHE. The nanofluids used were Ag, Al₂O₃, CuO, SiO₂, and TiO₂ and the performance was compared with water. The thermal, flow fields and performance of the MCHE were analyzed using different nanofluids, different Reynolds numbers and different nanoparticle concentrations. Temperature profile, heat transfer coefficient, pressure profile, and wall shear stress were obtained from the simulations and the performance was discussed in terms of heat transfer rate, pumping power, effectiveness, and performance index. Results indicated enhanced performance with the usage of nanofluids, and slight penalty in pressure drop. The increase in Reynolds number caused an increase in the heat transfer rate and a decrease in the overall bulk temperature of the cold fluid. The increase in nanoparticle concentration also yielded better performance at the expense of increased pressure drop.     

Arrangement effects of triangular defects on magnetization reversal process in a permalloy dot

The arrangement effects of triangular defects on the magnetization configurations and switching process of a permalloy disk are investigated by micromagnetic simulations. For the case of one defect, the vortex is nucleated via the S state (W state) as the direction of the triangular defect is parallel (perpendicular) to the orientation of the external field. For the case of two defects, two types of switching processes are found dependent on their arrangement. For the two triangular defects with the same direction, the reversal occurs via formation, pinning, depinning and annihilation of the vortex state, however, for the two triangular defects with the opposite directions, the reversal is realized by formation and annihilation of the double-vortex state. The nucleation field for the disk with a triangular defect is more sensitive to the defect position than the case of a circular (square) defect, and it shows different variation trends for different triangular directions. The chirality of the vortex state nucleated in the reversal process can be controlled by the triangular defect.     

Numerical investigation of EHD effects on heat transfer enhancement and flow pattern of R-134a two phase flow

In this paper the effects of electrohydrodynamics (EHD) on heat transfer enhancement and flow pattern of R134a two-phase mixture, flowing in a horizontal tube, were numerically investigated. A uniform DC electric field was applied through a circular stainless steel rod along the centerline of tube, while the tube was considered as a grounded electrode. The simulations, in order to investigate the EHD mechanism, were performed for a constant heat flux 2000 W/m², voltages between 0 and 5 kV, inlet volume fractions 65% and 85%, mass fluxes from 30 kg/m²s to 50 kg/m²s and electrode diameters between 1.57 mm and 2.4 mm. These flow conditions correspond to stratified flow. The flow regime redistributions under the applied electric field was obtained. The results show that the steady state condition was occurred at the time about 900 ms. According to the results, enhancement ratio is directly proportional to voltage, and it is reversely proportional to electrode diameter, mass flux and inlet volume fraction.     

Comparative study on thermal performance of helical screw tape inserts in laminar flow using Al2O3/water and CuO/water nanofluids

This paper presents a comparison of thermal performance of helical screw tape inserts in laminar flow of Al₂O₃/water and CuO/water nanofluids through a straight circular duct with constant heat flux boundary condition. The helical screw tape inserts with twist ratios Y = 1.78, 2.44 and 3 were used in the experimental study using 0.1% volume concentration Al₂O₃/water and CuO/water nanofluids. Nanofluids with required volume concentration of 0.1% were prepared by dispersing specified amounts of Al₂O₃ and CuO nanoparticles in deionised water. The performance analysis of helical screw tape inserts in laminar flow of Al₂O₃/water and CuO/water nanofluids is done by evaluating thermal performance factor for constant pumping power condition. Thermal performance factor of helical screw tape inserts using CuO/water nanofluid is found to be higher when compared with the corresponding value using Al₂O₃/water. Therefore, the helical screw tape inserts show better thermal performance when used with CuO/water nanofluid than with Al₂O₃/water nanofluid.     

On changing the size of the atmosphere of a vortex pair embedded in a periodic external shear flow

The dynamics of fluid particles in the vicinity of a self-propagating vortex pair, embedded in a nonstationary shear flow, is studied. When the shear flow is steady, the vicinity of the pair, which is called as a vortex atmosphere, consists of closed stream-lines, which coincide with fluid particles? trajectories. When the shear flow is nonstationary, the trajectories? behaviour changes drastically, then chaotic advection occurs. It is shown in the Letter that the vortex pair propagation velocity varies with the parameters (amplitude, and frequency) of the nonstationary shear flow. It is demonstrated, that changing of the mean velocity leads to changing of the size of the atmosphere.     

涡流管内三维强旋转流场数值模拟与分析

涡流管内可压缩气体的强旋转流动是涡流管能量分离的根本原因和驱动力,因而涡流管内流场研究是揭示涡流管能量分离物理机制的首要关键问题。由于涡流管内可压缩气体的三维强旋转湍流流动,实验测量中存在诸多问题,而CFD数值模拟技术对此具有很大的优势。文中以涡流管内部流场为研究对象,建立了涡流管计算域模型并进行网格划分,讨论了边界条件、湍流模型以及线性方程组求解策略等问题,对不同冷气流率下的涡流管内三维强旋流流场结构特性进行数值模拟,获得了不同冷气流率下的旋转运动、轴向运动、径向运动和循环流的分布特性。研究表明Realizableκ-ε湍流模型能够充分反映强旋流动特点,数值模拟结果与文献中实验值基本吻合。     

Heat transfer in a flow of gas mixture with low Prandtl number in triangular channels

We investigated heat transfer in a channel with a triangular cross-section. The working medium is a helium–xenon mixture with a low Prandtl number. This channel configuration corresponds to one of possible cases of fuel cells layout in a gas-cooled nuclear reactor. New experimental data on heat transfer in helium–xenon mixtures were obtained. Results of numerical modeling were compared with the experimental data and the known empirical correlations.     

Optical transfer function of an optical system with a vortex phase mask in the presence of primary aberrations

The impact of primary aberrations on the optical transfer function of an optical system with a vortex phase mask has been investigated in detail. The optical transfer function of such a system becomes negative in a certain frequency range even in the absence of aberrations, a feature different from the case of an optical system in which center of the point spread function is bright.     

Enhancing the thermal performance of AL2O3/DI water nanofluids in micro-fin tube equipped with straight and left-right twisted tapes in turbulent flow regime

This article communicates the thermal performance, heat transfer rate, and friction factor of Al₂O₃/DI water nanofluids at different concentrations in a micro-finned tube with tube helical inserts for different twist ratios. The thermal performance, heat transfer coefficient, and friction of the present study is also compared with a plain tube for validation. From the study, it is identified that the micro-finned tube with tube insert performance is higher as compared with a plain tube. Similarly, an empirical relation for Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f) is estimated for straight twisted tube and left-right combination. The deviation between experimental and theoretical values for left-right twist and straight twist is found as 3 and 7% for Nusselt number and 7 and 9% for friction factor, respectively. Similarly, while analyzing the thermal performance, it was found that the maximum performance achieved was with a micro-fin tube with left-right twist with nanofluid concentration of 0.2%.     

Effects of fine fuel droplets on a laminar flame stabilized in a partially prevaporized spray stream

A partially prevaporized spray burner was developed to investigate the interaction between fuel droplets and a flame. Monodispersed partially prevaporized ethanol sprays with narrow diameter distribution were generated by the condensation method using rapid pressure reduction of a saturated ethanol vapor–air mixture. A tilted flat flame was stabilized at the nozzle exit using a hot wire. Particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) was applied to measurements of the droplet velocity; the laminar burning velocity was obtained from gas velocity derived from the droplet velocity. Observations were made of flames in partially prevaporized spray streams with mean droplet diameters of 7 μm and the liquid equivalence ratios of 0.2; the total equivalence ratio was varied. In all cases, a sharp vaporization plane was observed in front of the blue flame. Flame oscillation was observed on the fuel-rich side. At strain rates under 50 s⁻¹, the change in the burning velocity with the strain rate is small in fuel-lean spray streams. In spray streams of 0.7 and 0.8 in the total equivalence ratio, burning velocity increases with strain rates of greater than 50 s⁻¹. However, in spray streams with 0.9 and 1.0 in the total equivalence ratio, burning velocity decreases as the strain rate increases. At strain rates greater than 80 s⁻¹, burning velocity decreases with an increased gas equivalence ratio. The effect of mean droplet diameter, and the entry length of droplets into a flame on the laminar burning velocity, were also investigated to interpret the effect of the strain rate on the laminar burning velocity of partially prevaporized sprays.     

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.     

用晶格玻尔兹曼方法研究颗粒在涡流中的运动

用晶格玻尔兹曼方法研究小颗粒在涡流中的运动.涡流由流经空腔的流体产生.用动量交换法和压力张量积分法计算颗粒在涡流中的运动轨迹、速度和角速度.最后用张量积分法计算两个不同半径的颗粒在涡流中的运动. 关键词： 晶格玻尔兹曼方法 涡流 颗粒     

Heat transfer and Marangoni flow in a circular heat pipe using self-rewetting fluids

In this study, Marangoni flow and heat transfer enhancement in a heat pipe have been investigated. The experiments were carried out at different heat inputs. A constant temperature water bath was used at the condenser section at three temperature levels. Heat transfer coefficients and thermal resistances of the heat pipe were measured for pure water and water/butanol solutions. The experimental results confirmed that the heat pipe filled with butanol solutions showed better thermal performance than the water-filled heat pipe. At maximum heat flux, 25% heat transfer improvement was obtained when 7 wt% butanol solution was used instead of pure water.     

Heat transfer in boundary layer stagnation-point flow towards a shrinking sheet with non-uniform heat flux

In this paper, the effect of non-uniform heat flux on heat transfer in boundary layer stagnation-point flow over a shrinking sheet is studied. The variable boundary heat fluxes are considered of two types: direct power-law variation with the distance along the sheet and inverse power-law variation with the distance. The governing partial differential equations (PDEs) are transformed into non linear self-similar ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by similarity transformations, and then those are solved using very efficient shooting method. The direct variation and inverse variation of heat flux along the sheet have completely different effects on the temperature distribution. Moreover, the heat transfer characteristics in the presence of non-uniform heat flux for several values of physical parameters are also found to be interesting.