Thermal analysis of metal foam and nanofluid integration in an asymmetrical heated channel

Abstract

The flow and heat transport presentation of the nanofluid flowing through the metal foam (MF) positioned inside the asymmetrical heated horizontal channel is evaluated computationally in the current study. The MF of 20 pores per inch (PPI) with porosity 0.918 is inserted into horizontal channel test section. The test segment is heated from the top wall with the help of plate (aluminum) heater assemblage positioned at the top of the channel. The novelty of the current examination is to extract the consequences of nanofluids such as Al2O3-H2O and CuO-H2O flowing through the MF filled test segment at various velocities ranging from 0.02 to 0.15 m/s. The conjugate heat transport examination is executed through MF region using integrated DEF (Darcy Extended Forchheimer) with LTE (local thermal equilibrium models). The improvement in thermal presentation achieved for nanofluids are likened with H2O and H2O-C2H6O2 (water with 50 % ethylene glycol) solution and also with clear channel. The procedure adopted in the current analysis is initially confirmed with the help of comparison of present work result with literature upshots. The outcomes are presented in terms of friction factor (FF), Nusselt number (Nu), Colburn j factor, performance evaluation criteria (PEC) and pumping power (PP). The CuO-H2O nanofluid showed the best performance (average PEC of 1.4) among all the fluids considered in the present examination.

Keywords

• Channel
• Metal foams
• Al2O3-H2O
• CuO-H2O
• H2O-C2H6O2
• PEC