Numerical Simulation of Nanofluid-Cooling Enhancement of Three Fins Mounted in a Horizontal Channel

Abstract

This article presents a numerical study of two-dimensional laminar mixed convection in a horizontal channel. The upper horizontal wall of the channel is insulated. The governing equations were solved by using the finite volume method based on the simpler algorithm. Comparisons with previous results were performed and found to be in excellent agreement. The results were presented in terms of streamlines, isotherms, local and average Nusselt numbers for the Richardson number (0 ≤ Ri ≤ 10), Reynolds number (5 ≤ Re ≤ 100), solid volume fraction of nanoparticles (0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.10), and the type of nanofluids (Cu, Ag, Al2O3, and TiO2). The results show that the previous parameters have considerable effects on the flow and thermal fields. It was found that the heat transfer increases with increasing of Ra, Re, and ϕ.