Heat transfer intensification using CuO-water nanofluid in a finned capsule-shaped heat exchanger using lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract

The natural convection fluid flow and heat exchanger in a capsule-shape heat exchanger is investigated. The lattice Boltzmann method is used to simulate the fluid flow and heat transfer in the enclosure. To predict the thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of CuO-water nanofluid, the KKL-model is utilized which is able to apply the Brownian motion of the nanoparticles. In order to carry out a comprehensive analysis, the heatline visualization and entropy generation are used to detect the path of heat energy and find the optimum conditions, respectively. The influences of different effectual parameters such as Rayleigh number, nanoparticle concentration, different thermal arrangements of implanted fins on the studied cases such as fluid flow, heat transfer, heat transfer irreversibility map, fluid friction irreversibility map, local Nusselt variation map, average Nusselt number and the total entropy generation are investigated comprehensively.