Combined Effects of Nanofluid and Geometrical Structures of a Parallel Plate Channel With Semicircle Corrugations on Flow Characteristics and Thermal-Hydraulic Performance

Abstract

Abstract The combination of corrugated surface and nanofluid techniques can boost thermo-hydraulic performance with the ability to make thermal systems more effective and reliable. In this numerical study, the combined effect of different structures of a semicircle-corrugated channel is investigated and examined, as well as different types of nanofluids on thermal and hydraulic performance in the Reynolds number range from 10,000 to 30,000. With respect to the fluid medium, four kinds of nanoparticles Al2O3, CuO, SiO2, and ZnO are used and investigated. The volume fraction of nanoparticles and the diameter of the particles are in the range of 0–0.08 and 20–80 nm, respectively. The findings show that the geometrical structures of the tested channel have a great effect to improve heat transfer enhancement, approvingly around 2.3–3.7 times that of the smooth channel. Furthermore, the outcomes show a dramatic increase in the heat transfer coefficient as the volume fractions of nanoparticles and Reynolds number are increased, and with the decline of particle size, but it accompanied with the increase of shear stress. Among the nanofluids used here, SiO2–water offers the highest enhancement of heat transfer. For all forms tested here, the rib shape of a semicircle-corrugated channel displays the best thermal-hydraulic performance of 2.84 at a volume fraction of 0.08 and Re = 10,000.