Numerical Investigation of CuO-Water Nanofluid Flow and Heat Transfer across a Heated Square Cylinder

Abstract

Flow over a bluff body is an attractive research field in thermal engineering. In the present study, laminar flow over a confined heated square cylinder using CuO-Water nanofluid is considered. Unsteady two-dimensional Navier-Stokes and energy equations are solved numerically using finite volume method (FVM). Recent correlations for the thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids, which are function of nanoparticle volume fraction, temperature and nanoparticle diameter, have been employed. The results of numerical solution are obtained for Richardson number, nanoparticle volume fractions and nanoparticle diameters ranges of 0-1, 1-5% and 30-100 nm respectively for a fixed Reynolds number of Re = 150. At a given volume concentration, the investigations reveal that the decreasing in size of nanoparticles produces an increase in heat transfer rates from the square cylinder and a decrease in amplitude of the lift coefficient. Also, the increment of Nusselt number is more pronounced at higher concentrations and higher Richardson numbers.