Numerical study of nanofluids forced convection in a microchannel with an Eulerian- Lagrangian two-phase method

In this paper laminar forced convection of Cu-water nanofluid in a parallel plate microchannel submitted to a constant wall temperature is numerically investigated. An Eulerian-Lagrangian two phase method is employed to simulate the nanofluid flow and heat transfer in the microchannel. Heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids is greater than that of the base fluid particularly in the entrance region. Two-phase results show greater improvement in heat transfer coefficient in comparison to the single phase method. And heat transfer enhancement increases with increase in Reynolds number and nanoparticles volume fraction.

Keywords:

nanofluid , microchannel , two-phase , Eulerian-Lagrangian method