MHD natural convection nanofluid flow in a heat exchanger: Effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis for nanoparticles distribution

Abstract

The free convection of Cu-water nanofluid is simulated and investigated inside a square heat exchanger chamber in the presence of MHD magnetic field. The Buongiorno model with the effects of Brownian and thermophoresis motion is considered to nanoparticles distribution inside the chamber. The geometry consists of a square chamber with two cylinders on the right and left sides as heater and cooler in order to create the buoyancy force, respectively. These cylinders represent hot and cold pipes, and the walls of the chamber are heat and mass insulation. the FVM with SIMPLE algorithm are used for velocity and pressure coupling. In current two-phase simulation, the effects of Rayleigh number, Hartmann number, inclination angle of chamber and volume fraction on streamline contours, isothermal lines, Lorentz force lines, nanoparticle distribution and Nusselt number are investigated. By modeling the motion of nanoparticles and evaluating it, a nanoparticle transport zone was observed. The diffusion effects of thermophoresis were significant in this zone. The nanoparticles were thrown from the hot cylinder to the cold cylinder. The application of a magnetic field enlarged the nanoparticle transport zone. However, increasing the Rayleigh number and decreasing the inclination angle of the enclosure caused the nanoparticles to disperse evenly.

Keywords

• Buongiorno model
• MHD
• Heat exchanger
• Heater/cooler
• Natural convection
• Cu nanoparticles