NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT USING MWCNT NANOFLUIDS

In this study, fluid flow and heat transfer of MWCNT nanofluid in Micro channels is numerically investigated. The nanofluid viscosity is modeled by a shear-thinning power law model and its conductivity is modeled by a third order polynomial which has been concluded from experimental results. Three dimensional numerical simulations were performed using a finite element approach. Performance parameters such as pressure drop, friction factor, pumping power, heat transfer coefficient and thermal resistance are calculated for pure water, Aluminia 1% and MWCNT 1%. The results reveal that using MWCNT nanofluids decrease pressure drop, pumping power and thermal resistance while increases heat transfer coefficient more effectively than other nanofluids such as Aluminia. The results reported in this paper illustrate that using MWCNT nanofluid is more appropriate than Aluminia nanofluid for using in heat sinks.