Thermophysical Analysis of Water Based (Cu–Al2O3) Hybrid Nanofluid in an Asymmetric Channel with Dilating/Squeezing Walls Considering Different Shapes of Nanoparticles

• Main Authors: Fitnat Saba, Naveed Ahmed, Umar Khan, Asif Waheed, Muhammad Rafiq, Syed Tauseef Mohyud-Din
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-09-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: Cu–Al2O3/H2O hybrid nanofluid; heat transfer; shape factor; numerical results; Dilating/contracting walls
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/9/1549

An innovative concept of water-based Cu–Al2O3 hybrid nanofluid has been employed to investigate the behavior of flow and heat transfer inside a rectangular channel whose permeable walls experiences dilation or contraction in height. The transformed set of ordinary differential equations is then solved by a well-known Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg algorithm. The analysis also includes three different shapes of copper nanocomposites, namely, platelet, cylinder and brick- shaped. The impact of various embedded parameters on the flow and heat transfer distributions have been demonstrated through the graphs. All the flow properties, temperature profile and rate of heat transfer at the walls are greatly influenced by the presence of copper nanoparticles. Furthermore, it was observed that the platelet shaped nanocomposites provide a better heat transfer ability as compared to the other shapes of nanoparticles.