A Numerical Technique for Computing Effective Thermal Conductivity of Fluid-Particle Mixtures

Author(s):  
Satish Kumar ◽  
Jayathi Y. Murthy

Periodic arrays of particles, foams, and other structures impregnated with a static fluid play an important role in heat transfer enhancement. In this paper, we develop a numerical method for computing conduction heat transfer in periodic beds by exploiting the periodicity of heat flux and the resulting linear variation of mean temperature. The numerical technique is developed within the framework of an unstructured finite volume scheme in order to enable the computation of effective thermal conductivity for complex fluid-particle arrangements. The method is applied to the computation of effective thermal conductivity of ordered as well as random beds of spheres and rods. The effect of varying surface area, aspect ratio, volume fraction, orientation, and distribution is studied for various solid-to-fluid conductivity ratios. Unlike classical theories which predict only a dependence on volume fraction, these direct simulations show that aspect ratio, distribution, and alignment of particles have an important influence on the effective thermal conductivity of the bed.

Author(s):  
Ayushman Singh ◽  
Srikanth Rangarajan ◽  
Leila Choobineh ◽  
Bahgat Sammakia

Abstract This work presents an approach to optimally designing a composite with thermal conductivity enhancers (TCEs) infiltrated with phase change material (PCM) based on figure of merit (FOM) for thermal management of portable electronic devices. The FOM defines the balance between effective thermal conductivity and energy storage capacity. In present study, TCEs are in the form of a honeycomb structure. TCEs are often used in conjunction with PCM to enhance the conductivity of the composite medium. Under constrained composite volume, the higher volume fraction of TCEs improves the effective thermal conductivity of the composite, while it reduces the amount of latent heat storage simultaneously. The present work arrives at the optimal design of composite for electronic cooling by maximizing the FOM to resolve the stated trade-off. In this study, the total volume of the composite and the interfacial heat transfer area between the PCM and TCE are constrained for all design points. A benchmarked two-dimensional direct CFD model was employed to investigate the thermal performance of the PCM and TCE composite. Furthermore, assuming conduction-dominated heat transfer in the composite, a simplified effective numerical model that solves the single energy equation with the effective properties of the PCM and TCE has been developed. The effective thermal conductivity of the composite is obtained by minimizing the error between the transient temperature gradient of direct and simplified model by iteratively varying the effective thermal conductivity. The FOM is maximized to find the optimal volume fraction for the present design.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiyad Abu-Nada

Heat transfer enhancement in horizontal annuli using variable thermal conductivity and variable viscosity of CuO-water nanofluid is investigated numerically. The base case of simulation used thermal conductivity and viscosity data that consider temperature property dependence and nanoparticle size. It was observed that for Ra≥104, the average Nusselt number was deteriorated by increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles. However, for Ra=103, the average Nusselt number enhancement depends on aspect ratio of the annulus as well as volume fraction of nanoparticles. Also, for Ra=103, the average Nusselt number was less sensitive to volume fraction of nanoparticles at high aspect ratio and the average Nusselt number increased by increasing the volume fraction of nanoaprticles for aspect ratios ≤0.4. For Ra≥104, the Nusselt number was deteriorated everywhere around the cylinder surface especially at high aspect ratio. However, this reduction is only restricted to certain regions around the cylinder surface for Ra=103. For Ra≥104, the Maxwell–Garnett and the Chon et al. conductivity models demonstrated similar results. But, there was a deviation in the prediction at Ra=103 and this deviation becomes more significant at high volume fraction of nanoparticles. The Nguyen et al. data and the Brinkman model give completely different predictions for Ra≥104, where the difference in prediction of the Nusselt number reached 50%. However, this difference was less than 10% at Ra=103.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruifeng CAO ◽  
Taotao WANG ◽  
Yuxuan ZHANG ◽  
Hui WANG

Improved heat transfer in composites consisting of guar gel matrix and randomly distributed glass microspheres is extensively studied to predict the effective thermal conductivity of composites using the finite element method. In the study, the proper and probabilistic three-dimensional random distribution of microspheres in the continuous matrix is automatically generated by a simple and efficient random sequential adsorption algorithm which is developed by considering the correlation of three factors including particle size, number of particles, and particle volume fraction controlling the geometric configuration of random packing. Then the dependences of the effective thermal conductivity of composite materials on some important factors are investigated numerically, including the particle volume fraction, the particle spatial distribution, the number of particles, the nonuniformity of particle size, the particle dispersion morphology and the thermal conductivity contrast between particle and matrix. The related numerical results are compared with theoretical predictions and available experimental results to assess the validity of the numerical model. These results can provide good guidance for the design of advanced microsphere reinforced composite materials.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Y. Lai ◽  
S. Vinod ◽  
P. E. Phelan ◽  
Ravi Prasher

Nanofluids are colloidal solutions, which contain a small volume fraction of suspended submicron particles or fibers in heat transfer liquids such as water or glycol mixtures. Compared with the base fluid, numerous experiments have generally indicated an increase in effective thermal conductivity and a strong temperature dependence of the static effective thermal conductivity. However, in practical applications, a heat conduction mechanism may not be sufficient for cooling high heat dissipation devices such as microelectronics or powerful optical equipment. Thus, thermal performance under convective heat transfer conditions becomes of primary interest. We report here the heat transfer coefficient h in both developing and fully developed regions by using water-based alumina nanofluids. Our experimental test section consists of a single 1.02-mm diameter stainless steel tube, which is electrically heated to provide a constant wall heat flux. Both pressure drop and temperature differences are measured, but mostly here we report our h measurements under laminar flow conditions. An extensive characterization of the nanofluid samples, including pH, electrical conductivity, particle sizing, and zeta potential, is also documented. The measured h values for nanofluids are generally higher than those for pure water. In the developing region, this can be at least partially explained by Pr number effects.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bhuvaneswari ◽  
Poo Balan Ganesan ◽  
S. Sivasankaran ◽  
K. K. Viswanathan

The present study analyzed convective heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of nanofluid in a two-dimensional square cavity under different combinations of thermophysical models of nanofluids. The right vertical wall temperature is varying linearly with height and the left wall is maintained at low temperature whereas the horizontal walls are adiabatic. Finite volume method is used to solve the governing equations. Two models are considered to calculate the effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluid and four models are considered to calculate the effective viscosity of the nanofluid. Numerical solutions are carried out for different combinations of effective viscosity and effective thermal conductivity models with different volume fractions of nanoparticles and Rayleigh numbers. It is found that the heat transfer rate increases for Models M1 and M3 on increasing the volume fraction of the nanofluid, whereas heat transfer rate decreases for Model M4 on increasing the volume fraction of the nanoparticle. The difference among the effective dynamic viscosity models of nanofluid plays an important role here such that the average Nusselt number demonstrates an increasing or decreasing trend with the concentration of nanoparticle.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-431
Author(s):  
Muhammad Owais Raza Siddiqui ◽  
Danmei Sun ◽  
Ian B Butler

Nonwoven fabric can be produced for thermal insulation. It has low fibre volume fraction. Thermal insulation property of fibrous materials depends on not only the thermal conductivity of fibre but also the entrapped static air. If fibre volume fraction is low in fibrous assembly it means that more air in the volume, therefore, the insulation property of the fabric increases, or vice versa. In this research thermal bonded nonwoven fabrics were used to analyse the heat transfer phenomena and predict the effective thermal conductivity and thermal resistance by using finite element method. Finite element models of nonwoven fabrics were created by two techniques: 3D reconstruction and solid modelling. For validation purpose, the effective thermal conductivity results obtained from an in-house developed instrument were compared with predicted results from the developed finite element models. Furthermore, this research work also contains an investigation of the effect of fibre volume fraction and thermal conductivity of fibre on the overall heat transfer of nonwoven structures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5086
Author(s):  
Fatih Selimefendigil ◽  
Hakan F. Oztop ◽  
Ali J. Chamkha

Single and double impinging jets heat transfer of non-Newtonian power law nanofluid on a partly curved surface under the inclined magnetic field effects is analyzed with finite element method. The numerical work is performed for various values of Reynolds number (Re, between 100 and 300), Hartmann number (Ha, between 0 and 10), magnetic field inclination (γ, between 0 and 90), curved wall aspect ratio (AR, between 01. and 1.2), power law index (n, between 0.8 and 1.2), nanoparticle volume fraction (ϕ, between 0 and 0.04) and particle size in nm (dp, between 20 and 80). The amount of rise in average Nusselt (Nu) number with Re number depends upon the power law index while the discrepancy between the Newtonian fluid case becomes higher with higher values of power law indices. As compared to case with n = 1, discrepancy in the average Nu number are obtained as −38% and 71.5% for cases with n = 0.8 and n = 1.2. The magnetic field strength and inclination can be used to control the size and number or vortices. As magnetic field is imposed at the higher strength, the average Nu reduces by about 26.6% and 7.5% for single and double jets with n greater than 1 while it increases by about 4.78% and 12.58% with n less than 1. The inclination of magnetic field also plays an important role on the amount of enhancement in the average Nu number for different n values. The aspect ratio of the curved wall affects the flow field slightly while the average Nu variation becomes 5%. Average Nu number increases with higher solid particle volume fraction and with smaller particle size. At the highest particle size, it is increased by about 14%. There is 7% variation in the average Nu number when cases with lowest and highest particle size are compared. Finally, convective heat transfer performance modeling with four inputs and one output is successfully obtained by using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Interface System (ANFIS) which provides fast and accurate prediction results.


2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 725-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ghalambaz ◽  
E. Izadpanahi ◽  
A. Noghrehabadi ◽  
A. Chamkha

The boundary layer heat and mass transfer of nanofluids over an isothermal stretching sheet is analyzed using a drift-flux model. The relative slip velocity between the nanoparticles and the base fluid is taken into account. The nanoparticles’ volume fractions at the surface of the sheet are considered to be adjusted passively. The thermal conductivity and the dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid are considered as functions of the local volume fraction of the nanoparticles. A non-dimensional parameter, heat transfer enhancement ratio, is introduced, which shows the alteration of the thermal convective coefficient of the nanofluid compared to the base fluid. The governing partial differential equations are reduced into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations using appropriate similarity transformations and then solved numerically using the fourth-order Runge–Kutta and Newton–Raphson methods along with the shooting technique. The effects of six non-dimensional parameters, namely, the Prandtl number of the base fluid Prbf, Lewis number Le, Brownian motion parameter Nb, thermophoresis parameter Nt, variable thermal conductivity parameter Nc and the variable viscosity parameter Nv, on the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles as well as the reduced Nusselt number and the enhancement ratio are investigated. Finally, case studies for Al2O3 and Cu nanoparticles dispersed in water are performed. It is found that increases in the ambient values of the nanoparticles volume fraction cause decreases in both the dimensionless shear stress f″(0) and the reduced Nusselt number Nur. Furthermore, an augmentation of the ambient value of the volume fraction of nanoparticles results in an increase the heat transfer enhancement ratio hnf/hbf. Therefore, using nanoparticles produces heat transfer enhancement from the sheet.


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