A comprehensive comparison of various CFD models for convective heat transfer of Al2O3 nanofluid inside a heated tube. (January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Behroyan, I.; Vanaki, Sh.M.; Ganesan, P.; Saidur, R.
• Is Part Of: International communications in heat and mass transfer. Volume 70(2016:Jan.)
• Page Start: 27
• Page End: 37
• Publication Date: 2016-01
• Subjects: Nanofluids -- Heat transfer enhancement -- Laminar regime -- Newtonian Single-phase approaches -- Non-Newtonian Single-phase approach -- Two-phase approaches -- Dispersion models; Heat -- Transmission -- Periodicals; Mass transfer -- Periodicals; Chaleur -- Transmission -- Périodiques; Transfert de masse -- Périodiques; Heat -- Transmission; Mass transfer; Periodicals; 621.4022
• DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2015.11.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0735-1933

Abstract

Abstract: This study presents a comprehensive comparison between various models in numerical/CFD approaches to investigate a case study of the laminar forced convection flow of Al2 O3 /water nanofluid with 1.6% volume fraction and Re = 1600 in a heated tube. The quantitative deviation in Nusselt number for the case study is reported using (i) four types of single-phase models, including Newtonian and non-Newtonian single-phase models with assessing the effect of two different thermal dispersion models based on velocity and temperature gradient (ii) four types of two-phase models, including Eulerian, mixture (types 1 and 2) and discrete phase models. According to the results, non-Newtonian single-phase model predicts more accurate Nusselt number than Newtonian single-phase model, with average errors of 5.98% and 4.84% respectively. Incorporating the dispersion models in non-Newtonian single-phase approach, the average error decreases to 2.07% for dispersion models type 1 and 3.33%, for dispersion models type 2. Regarding two-phase models, Eulerian, mixture type 1, mixture type 2, and discrete phase model show the average error of 2.79%, 17.57%, 5.87% and 2.73% respectively. The repeatability and the consistency of the findings of some of most accurate models was checked for 0–2% nanoparticle volume fraction and also for Re ranging from 745 to 1600. This study benefits when comes to selecting a suitable model for a similar type case study.