Heat and Flow Characteristics of Nanofluid Flow in Porous Microchannels

Abstract

In the present study, convective flow of nanofluid in porous microchannel is analyzed by utilizing field synergy principle. The effects of porous medium embedment on the field synergy of water-Al2O3 nanofluid is investigated based on locally thermal nonequilibrium model. Energy equations for both fluid and solid phases are solved analytical while the field synergy formulations based on viscous dissipative flow are developed. It is observed that the interstitial heat transfer affects the field synergy of the flow tremendously. The deviation between one-energy-equation model and two-energyequation model reduces when the field synergy of the system increases. With the embedment of porous medium, the convection performance of microchannel is enhanced due to the increased synergy between the heat and flow fields. Besides, the field synergy of the system can be further enhanced by suspending nanoparticle in conventional fluid. This study provides an auxiliary point of view on the distinctive convection performance of nanofluid flow in porous microchannel.