Investigation of Laminar Pulsating Nanofluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Rectangular Channel

Abstract

In this study, two-dimensional pulsating unsteady flow of nanofluid through a rectangular channel with isothermal walls is investigated numerically. The set of resultant algebraic equations is solved simultaneously using SIMPLE algorithm to obtain the velocity and pressure distribution within the channel. The effects of several parameters, such as volume fraction of different nanoparticles, Reynolds number, and the amplitude and frequency of pulsation flow, on the rate of heat transfer and pressure drop are examined. The results show that the heat transfer enhancement on the target surface obtained by the flow pulsation highly depends on pulsating velocity. It can also be seen that total Nusselt number increases significantly due to increase in amplitude of pulsation and volume fraction of nanoparticles. Analysis also reveals that pressure drop for the alumina nanoparticles is much greater than that of the base fluid.