Influence of Microtube Heating Geometry on Behavior of an Alumina Nanofluid at Low Reynolds Numbers

Abstract:

A numerical program is employed to solve two-dimensional continuum-based governing differential equations for liquid flow in axisymmetric circular microchannel geometry. The effects of variable thermal properties in single-phase laminar forced convection with constant wall heat flux boundary conditions are studied. The numerical analysis of fully developed flow behavior investigates the effect of tube length on convection characteristics. The governing equations were discretized using the control volume method and solved numerically via the SIMPLE algorithm. Water - Al2O3nanofluids with different volume fractions ranged from 1% to 3% were used. This investigation covers Reynolds number in the range of 500 to 1500. The results have shown that convective heat transfer coefficient for a nanofluid is enhanced than that of the base liquid. Wall heat transfer flux is increasing with the particle volume concentration and Reynolds number. Moreover, a study on microtube length influence on heat transfer was attempted and few correlations were established. As a conclusion, a 6-11% decrease in heat transfer enhancement was noticed when the tube length is increasing in laminar flow.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 371)
• Pages: 596-600
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.371.596
• Online since: August 2013
• Authors: Alina Adriana Minea, Razvan Silviu Luciu, Oronzio Manca
• Keywords: Alumina, Heat Transfer, Laminar, Nanofluid, Tube

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