Numerical investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of ternary nanofluids through convergent and divergent channels

M M Alqarni; Abid A Memon; M Asif Memon; Emad E Mahmoud; Amsalu Fenta

doi:10.1039/d3na00818e

Numerical investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of ternary nanofluids through convergent and divergent channels

Nanoscale Adv. 2023 Nov 2;5(24):6897-6912. doi: 10.1039/d3na00818e. eCollection 2023 Dec 5.

Authors

M M Alqarni¹, Abid A Memon², M Asif Memon^{2

3}, Emad E Mahmoud⁴, Amsalu Fenta⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mathematics, College of Sciences, King Khalid University Abha 61413 Saudi Arabia Sair4466@gmail.com malqrni@kku.edu.sa.
² Department of Mathematics and Social Sciences, Sukkur IBA University Sukkur 65200 Sindh Pakistan abid.ali@iba-suk.edu.pk asif-memon@iba-suk.edu.pk.
³ Department of Mathematics, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Parit Raja Batu Pahat 86400 Johor Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Science, Taif University PO Box 11099 Taif 21944 Saudi Arabia emad_eluan@yahoo.com.
⁵ Department of Physics, Mizan Tepi University PO Box 121 Tepi Ethiopia amsalu.fenta09@gmail.com.

Abstract

The characteristics of nanomaterials have garnered significant attention in recent research on natural and forced convection. This study focuses on the forced convection characteristics of ternary nanofluids within convergent and divergent channels. The ternary nanofluid comprises titanium oxide (TiO₂), zinc oxide (ZnO), and silver suspended in water, which serves as the base fluid. Using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0, a reliable software for finite element analysis, numerical simulations were conducted for steady and incompressible two-dimensional flow. Reynolds numbers varying from 100 to 800 were employed to investigate forced convection. Additionally, we explored aspect ratios (channel height divided by the height of the convergent or divergent section) of -0.4, -0.2, 0, 0.2, and 0.4. Our findings revealed that only at aspect ratio a = 0.4 did the average outlet temperature increase as the Reynolds number rose, while other aspect ratios exhibited decreasing average temperatures with declining Reynolds numbers. Moreover, as the Reynolds number increased from 100 to 800 and the total volume fraction of the ternary nanofluids ranged from 0.003 to 0.15, there was a significant 100% enhancement in the average Nusselt number. For clarity, this article briefly presents essential information, such as the study's numerical nature, fluid properties (constant-property fluid), and the methodology (COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0, finite element analysis). Key conclusions are highlighted to enable readers to grasp the main outcomes at a glance. These details are also adequately covered in the manuscript to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the research. The utilization of this emerging phenomenon holds immense potential in various applications, ranging from the development of highly efficient heat exchangers to the optimization of thermal energy systems. This phenomenon can be harnessed in scenarios in which effective cost management in thermal production is a critical consideration.