Numerical Study on Channel-Driven U-Shaped Cavity Flow with Adiabatic Baffles: PEC For W/EG Mixture-Based TiO2-SiO2 Hybrid Nanofluid

Abstract

Turbulent forced convection over asymmetrical cavity flows is encountered in numerous industrial applications. The importance of heat exchange or minimizing the encapsulating phenomenon has inspired thermal engineers to rely on altering the geometry of the heat transfer component (passive technique). Besides, the heat transfer capability of water and ethylene glycol (EG) solution is limited, and it depends on the working temperature and composition of the mixture. Hence, in this study, the influences of adiabatic baffles and TiO2-SiO2 hybrid nanoparticles (NPs) on the thermal performance of binary fluid in a 2D channel-driven U-shaped cavity flow are examined using the single-phase k-ω SST model. The results indicate that for the pure aqueous solution of EG, using elongated baffles increases the average Nu number (ANN) by 87% and 67%, respectively, compared to the plain cavity flow at Re=5000 and 30000. For the cavity flow without baffles at U0=0.6 m/s, the value of ANN decreases by 14% using TiO2-SiO2 (mixing ratio 50:50%) hybrid nanofluid (HyNf) with ϕ=0.01 compared to the pure mixture flow. Inserting smaller baffles in the U-shaped cavity flow is always advantageous at all velocities of the incoming flow. It confirms that dispersing TiO2-SiO2 NPs does not enhance the heat transfer capability of the binary mixture, especially at higher Re numbers. Moreover, the simultaneous substitution of the pure mixture in the plain cavity flow with the TiO2-SiO2 HyNf in the cavity flow equipped with baffles cannot be recommended.

Keywords

• Cavity flow
• Turbulent forced convection
• PEC
• Nanofluid
• Baffle

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