Prandtl number variation on transient forced convection flow in a fluid valve using nanofluid

Abstract

A transient numerical study is conducted to investigate the transport mechanism of forced convection in a fluid valve filled with water-CuO nanofluid. The flow enters from one inlet at the left with uniform temperature and velocity Ti and Ui, respectively, but can leave the valve through two outlets at the right. The upper and lower boundaries of the valve are heated with constant temperature Th while the remaining walls are  perfectly insulated. The numerical approach is based on the finite element technique with Galerkin’s weighted residual simulation. Solutions are obtained for the variation of Prandtl number (Pr) while Reynolds number (Re) and solid volume fraction (φ ) are fixed at 100 and 5%. The streamlines, isotherm plots, the local and average Nusselt number, mean temperature of the fluids (base fluid and nanofluid) and subdomain velocity with the variation of non-dimensional time (τ) are presented and discussed. It is found that the rate of heat transfer in the fluid valve reduces for longer time periods.

Keywords: Water-CuO nanofluid, forced convection, fluid valve, transient analysis.