NUMERICAL STUDY ON CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER OF AL2O3/WATER, CuO/WATER AND Cu/WATER NANOFLUIDS THROUGH SQUARE CROSS-SECTION DUCT IN LAMINAR FLOW

In this paper the convective heat transfer of Al2O3/water, CuO/water and Cu/water nanotluids through a square cross-section duct in laminar flow with constant temperature boundary conditions is numerically investigated. Because of the size and volume constraints, it may be required to use square flow-passage geometries. A square cross section duct has the advantage of lower pressure drop, but it has a lower heat exchange rate than that of a circular duct. However, this study shows that this could be compensated by using nanofluids in these systems. A dispersion model was used to include the presence of nanoparticles. Results show that the Nusselt number was enhanced by increasing the concentration and decreasing the size of nanoparticles. Up to 77%, 68% and 59% enhancement in Nusselt number for Cu/water, CuO/water and Al2O3/water nanofluids at 4.0% vol of 10nm nanoparticles was achieved respectively.