Open Access

ARTICLE

Simulating the Turbulent Hydrothermal Behavior of Oil/MWCNT Nanofluid in a Solar Channel Heat Exchanger Equipped with Vortex Generators

by Rachid Maouedj¹, Younes Menni², Mustafa Inc^3,4,*, Yu-Ming Chu^5,6,*, Houari Ameur⁷, Giulio Lorenzini⁸

1 Unité de Recherche en Energies Renouvelables en Milieu Saharien, URERMS, Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables, CDER, Adrar, 01000, Algeria
2 Department of Physics, Unit of Research on Materials and Renewable Energies, Faculty of Sciences, Abou Bekr Belkaid University, Tlemcen, 13000, Algeria
3 Department of Mathematics, Science Faculty, Firat University, Elazig, 23119, Turkey
4 Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, 40402 , Taiwan
5 Department of Mathematics, Huzhou University, Huzhou, 313000, China
6 Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Mathematical Modeling and Analysis in Engineering, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha, 410114, China
7 Department of Technology, University Centre of Naama, Naama, 45000, Algeria
8 Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, Parma, 43124, Italy

* Corresponding Authors: Yu-Ming Chu. Email: ; Mustafa Inc. Email:

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2021, 126(3), 855-889. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2021.014524

Received 05 October 2020; Accepted 18 November 2020; Issue published 19 February 2021

Abstract

Re-engineering the channel heat exchangers (CHEs) is the goal of many recent studies, due to their great importance in the scope of energy transport in various industrial and environmental fields. Changing the internal geometry of the CHEs by using extended surfaces, i.e., VGs (vortex generators), is the most common technique to enhance the efficiency of heat exchangers. This work aims to develop a new design of solar collectors to improve the overall energy efficiency. The study presents a new channel design by introducing VGs. The FVM (finite volume method) was adopted as a numerical technique to solve the problem, with the use of Oil/MWCNT (oil/multi-walled carbon nano-tubes) nanofluid to raise the thermal conductivity of the flow field. The study is achieved for a Re number ranging from to , while the concentration () of solid particles in the fluid (Oil) is set to 4%. The computational results showed that the hydrothermal characteristics depend strongly on the flow patterns with the presence of VGs within the CHE. Increasing the Oil/MWCNT rates with the presence of VGs generates negative turbulent velocities with high amounts, which promotes the good agitation of nanofluid particles, resulting in enhanced great transfer rates.

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