Numerical Investigation of Nanoparticles Shape Impacts on Thermal Energy Transfer and Flow Features of Nanofluid Impingement Jets

Today, energy transfer enhancement techniques have received much attention for design and manufacturing more efficient systems in various industries such as automotive, computers, electronics, and so forth. One way to achieve high-efficiency cooling systems is to use impingement jet cooling. In the present study, a numerical study has been conducted on nanofluid impingement jet in the vertical position to investigate the fluid flow characteristics and thermal energy transfer features. The working fluid in this study is a nanofluid with water-ethylene glycol mixture as base fluid and nanoparticles of boehmite alumina. The flow is considered to be laminar, steady-state, two-dimensional, symmetrically axial, for which the finite volume method is used to solve the equations. The effect of the Reynolds number variations, the volume fraction of nanoparticle, and different nanoparticle shapes (including spherical, plate, blade, cylindrical, and brick shapes) on thermophysical features of the flow are studied. The results reveal that the increasing Reynolds number and the increasing volume fraction of nanoparticles improves the thermal energy transfer rate. The highest Nusselt number leads to a maximum of energy transfer related to nanofluids with platelet and cylindrical nanoparticles, while the lowest thermal energy transfer rate is related to nanofluids containing spherical nanoparticles. Moreover, it is illustrated that nanofluids with platelets nanoparticles, because of their higher effective viscosity compares to other nanofluids, experience the highest pressure drop and those of with spherical nanoparticles show the lowest pressure drop.

Automated summary

This study numerically investigated the characteristics of nanofluid impingement jet and found that increasing Reynolds number and volume fraction of nanoparticles improve thermal energy transfer rate. Different shapes of nanoparticles affect thermophysical properties of the flow, with platelet and cylindrical nanoparticles showing the highest energy transfer efficiency.