Numerical analysis of transient laminar forced convection of nanofluids in circular ducts

In this study, forced convection heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids are investigated by numerical analysis of incompressible transient laminar flow in a circular duct under step change in wall temperature and wall heat flux. The thermal responses of the system are obtained by solving energy equation under both transient and steady-state conditions for hydro-dynamically fully-developed flow. In the analyses, temperature dependent thermo-physical properties are also considered. In the numerical analysis, Al2O3/water nanofluid is assumed as a homogenous single-phase fluid. For the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids, Hamilton-Crosser model is used together with a model for Brownian motion in the analysis which takes the effects of temperature and the particle diameter into account. Temperature distributions across the tube for a step jump of wall temperature and also wall heat flux are obtained for various times during the transient calculations at a given location for a constant value of Peclet number and a particle diameter. Variations of thermal conductivity in turn, heat transfer enhancement is obtained at various times as a function of nanoparticle volume fractions, at a given nanoparticle diameter and Peclet number. The results are given under transient and steady-state conditions; steady-state conditions are obtained at larger times and enhancements are found by comparison to the base fluid heat transfer coefficient under the same conditions.