Laminar Mixed Convection Nanofluids Flow in a Elliptic Duct Using Two Phase Approach

Laminar mixed convection Al₂O₃-Water nanofluid flow in elliptic ducts with constant heat flux boundary condition has been simulated employing two phase mixture model. Three-dimensional Navier-Stokes, energy and volume fraction equations have been discretized using the Finite Volume Method (FVM). The Brownian motions of nanoparticles have been considered to determine the thermal conductivity and dynamics viscosity of Al₂O₃-Water nanofluid, which vary with temperature. Simulation effects of solid volume fraction and nanoparticles mean diameter on thermal and hydraulics behaviors of nanofluid flow in elliptic ducts have been presented and discussed. The calculated results show good agreement with the previous numerical data. Results show that in a given Reynolds number (Re) and Richardson number (Ri), increasing solid nanoparticles volume fraction increases the Nusselt number (Nu) while the skin friction factor decreases. Increasing nanoparticles mean diameter augments the local skin friction factor whereas it causes the Nusselt number to reduce. But these effects are significant for nanoparticles diameter equal to 13nm especially.