CFD study on wall/nanoparticle interaction in nanofluids convective heat transfer

Abstract

The Brownian motion of the nanoparticles in nanofluid is one of the potential contributors to enhance effective thermal conductivity and the mechanisms that might contribute to this enhancement are the subject of considerable discussion and debate. In this paper, the mixing effect of the base fluid in the immediate vicinity of the nanoparticles caused by the Brownian motion was analyzed, modeled, and compared with existing experimental data available in the literature. CFD was developed to study the effect of wall/nanoparticle interaction on forced convective heat transfer in a tube under constant wall temperature condition. The results showed that the motion of the particle near the wall which can decrease boundary layer and the hydrodynamics effects associated with the Brownian motion have a significant effect on the convection heat transfer of nanofluid. © 2013 Mohammad Reza Tarybakhsh et al.