Lattice Boltzmann method based study of the heat transfer augmentation associated with Cu/water nanofluid in a channel with surface mounted blocks

Abstract

The study of the forced convection in a channel has many practical applications. In this paper, the forced convection heat transfer from surface mounted blocks attached to the bottom wall of a horizontal channel with nanofluid is numerically studied by the second-order lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The effects of Reynolds numbers and geometrical parameters of the blocks in different aspect ratios on the flow field and temperature distribution for various volume fractions of nanofluid (φ = 0, 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05) are analyzed. Also, the influence of these parameters is investigated on the local and average Nusselt numbers. It is concluded that heat transfer in channels can be enhanced by using the block on the walls and adding nanoparticles. There is a maximum value of 39.04% increase in average heat transfer coefficient for all the examined cases compared to the base fluid (i.e., water).