Turbulent two phase approach model for the nanofluids heat transfer analysis flowing through the minichannel heat sinks

Abstract

This study presents the numerical simulation of the turbulent heat transfer and flow characteristics of nanofluids in the minichannel heat sink. The minichannel heat sink is fabricated from the copper by the wire electrical discharge machine with the length, the width and the fin height of 110, 60, 1 mm, respectively. Experiments are done at various nanofluids Reynolds numbers in the ranging of 80-200. The k-e two equations turbulence model with single phase approach model, mixture two phase approach model and VOF approach model are employed to describe the heat transfer and flow characteristics. It is found that reasonable agreement is obtained from the comparison between the predicted results and the measured data. Two phase models (mixture two phase and VOF) are more appropriate the homogeneous model (single phase). In addition, the results obtained from the nanofluids cooling method are compared with those from the de-ionized water cooling method. The suspending nanoparticles have significant effect on the enhancement of heat transfer. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.