Investigating convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid Couette flow in a nanochannel by molecular dynamics simulation

ABSTRACT

The present study investigates convective heat transfer of nanofluid Couette flow. For this purpose, Ar-Cu nanofluid (argon as base fluid with spherical copper nanoparticles) is simulated using the LAMMPS package. The convective heat transfer coefficient is calculated for nanofluid and base fluid. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient increases with the addition of nanoparticles. This is due to changes in the structure and behaviour of the nanofluid relative to the base fluid. One of the important effects of the presence of nanoparticles is the constitution of solid-like layer adjacent to the nanoparticles, which increases the capability of heat transfer. Also, the velocity and mobility of base fluid are affected by the presence of nanoparticles, and velocity profile deviates from the linear mode. The effects of volume fraction and diameter of nanoparticles on convective heat transfer are also investigated. For a constant diameter of nanoparticles, the convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid increases by increasing the volume fraction. Likewise, in a constant volume fraction, the convective heat transfer coefficient decreases with increasing the nanoparticles diameter. This is because of the reduction in adsorption of fluid atoms by copper nanoparticles and decreasing the solid-like layer thickness.

KEYWORDS:

• Nanofluid
• Molecular dynamics simulation
• Nanochannel
• Couette flow
• Convective heat transfer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).