Hydrothermal analysis of water-Al2O3 nanofluid flow through a sudden expansion channel with an intermediate step

Abstract EN

This work presents the dynamic behavior of the laminar hydrothermal flow of nanofluid through a sudden expansion channel with the variations in the normalized length, height, and pitch to width ratio of the intermediate step.

the governing equations have been discretized using the finite volume method, and the SIMPLE algorithm has been applied to solve the system of algebraic equations.

the effect of the variations in the reynolds number (Re), normalized height(B/C), normalized length (A/C), and step pitch-width ratio (A/B) on the enhancement of heat transfer has been studied.

for different values of A/C, A/B, and B/C, this work indicates that the average nusselt number (Nuavg), thermal resistance factor (R), and performance number (PN) increase with the increase in Re.

in the case of the hydrothermal flow phenomena, the configuration associated with B/C provides better results than those associated with A/B and A/C.

as an important outcome, we see that the presence of an intermediate step enhances the average nusselt number and thermal resistance factor.

this will become very much helpful for various realistic circumstances for triggering additional thermo-mechanical loads on the surface.