Two-phase modeling of nanofluid forced convection in different arrangements of elliptical tube banks

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is two phase modeling of Water/Cu nanofluid forced convection in different arrangements of elliptical tube banks in a two-dimensional space.

Design/methodology/approach

The arrangements of tube banks have been regarded as equal spacing triangle (ES), equilateral triangle (ET) and the rotated square (RS). The obtained results indicate that, among the investigated arrangements, the RS arrangement has the maximum value of heat transfer with cooling fluid. Also, the changes of Nusselt number and the local friction factor are under the influence of three main factors including volume fraction of slid nanoparticles, the changes of fluid velocity parameters on the curved surface of tube and flow separation after crossing from a specified angle of fluid rotation.

Findings

In Reynolds number of 250 and in all arrangements of the tube banks, the behavior of Nusselt number is almost the same and the separation of flow happens in almost 155-165 degrees from fluid rotation on surface. In RS arrangement, due to the strength of vortexes after fluid separation, better mixture is created and because of this reason, after the separation zone, the level of local Nusselt number graph enhances significantly.

Originality/value

In this research, the laminar and two-phase flow of Water/Cu nanofluid in tube banks with elliptical cross section has been numerically investigated in a two-dimensional space with different longitudinal arrangements. In this study, the effects of using nanofluid, different arrangements of tube banks and the elliptical cross section on heat transfer and cooling fluid flow among the tube banks of heat exchanger have been numerically simulated by using finite volume method.

Citation

Mousavi, S.M., Akbari, O.A., Sheikhzadeh, G., Marzban, A., Toghraie, D. and Chamkha, A.J. (2020), "Two-phase modeling of nanofluid forced convection in different arrangements of elliptical tube banks", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 1937-1966. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-10-2018-0599