Numerical Study on Heat Transfer Enhancement of Nanofluids Using Lattice Boltzmann Method
Over the last few years, nanofluid has been getting much attention due to its distinctive characteristics. Compared with the traditional fluids, nanofluid has higher thermal conductivity and surface to volume ratio, which enables it to be an effective working fluid in terms of heat transfer enhancement. Recent experimental works have shown that with low nanoparticles concentrations (1-5 vol.％), the effective thermal conductivity of the suspensions can increase by more than 20％ for various mixtures. Although many outstanding experimental works have been carried out, the fundamental understanding of nanofluids characteristics is still missing. Much more theoretical and numerical studies on nanofluids are required. During the past two decades, lattice Boltzmann method has been experienced rapid development and well accepted as a useful method to simulate various fluid behaviors. Its unique advantages make it quite capable of simulating complex fluid systems and other processes and phenomena. In this study, lattice Boltzmann method is employed to investigate the nanofluid flow and heat transfer characteristics. To be exact, by coupling the density and temperature distribution functions, the hydrodynamics as well as thermal features of nanofluids are properly simulated. Also, the enhancement of nanofluids on heat transfer is theoretically analyzed. Moreover, the effects of some parameters such as Rayleigh number and solid particle volume fraction of nanoparticles on heat transfer performance are numerically investigated. The results are compared with experimental results in previous works. The simulation results indicate that both Rayleigh number and particle volume fraction of nanoparticles have great influences on heat transfer performance of nanofluids. The results also demonstrate lattice Boltzmann method is a competitive approach on simulating heat transfer of nanofluids.
nanofluids heat transfer enhancement lattice Boltzmann method
Wenning Zhou Yuying Yan
Energy & Sustainability Research Division, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering, Jilin University, China
国际会议
4th International Symposium on Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation(第四届传热与节能国际研讨会 ISHTEC2012)
广州
英文
1-4
2012-01-06（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）