Two-phase simulation of nanofluid flow in a heat exchanger with grooved wall

The aim of this paper is to achieve a smaller and cheaper heat exchanger with similar performance. To fulfill this demand, ANSYS-Fluent software and Aspen-HYSYS software are employed. The second goal is to study the effects of using oil-based nanofluids in a refinery heat exchanger. To fulfill this demand, two different nanofluids (MgO-SAE10 and ZnO-SAE10) are studied using two-phase approaches. And the third objective of this paper is to compare the results which are obtained from the singe- and multi-phase approaches. The governing equations have been solved according to the Eulerian–Eulerian single-fluid Two-Phase Model, with presumptuous that the coupling between phases is strong, and nanoparticles carefully follow the suspension flow. The FVM, SIMPLEC algorithm and k–ε turbulence model are applied. The thermal–hydraulic performance evaluation criteria, THPEC, and q″ have major roles. In the second step, the authors try to achieve an efficient model which not only has the THPEC > 1, but also has the maximum value of q″. According to the results, usage of nanofluid and turbulators can enhance thermal–hydraulic performances of heat exchanger significantly (between 84.78 and 105.31% for heat exchanger 1 and between 86.84% and 107.68% for heat exchanger 2). Furthermore, it is concluded that by employing nanofluid and turbulators the costs of manufacturing the refinery heat exchangers are sharply reduced.