Numerical study of heat transfer enhancement in mixed convection flow along a vertical plate with heat source/sink utilizing nanofluids

Steady, mixed convection laminar boundary layer flow of incompressible nanofluid along the vertical plate with temperature dependent heat source/sink has been investigated numerically. The resulting non-linear governing equations (obtained with the Boussinesq approximation) are solved, using a robust, extensively validated, variational finite element method (FEM) for both spherical and cylindrical shaped nanoparticles with volume fraction ranging up to 4%, with associated boundary conditions and the effect of the parameters governing the problem are discussed. Different water-based nanofluids containing Cu, Ag, CuO, Al2O3, and TiO2 are taken into consideration. The results show that the average Nusselt number is found to decrease for Ag, Cu, CuO, Al2O3, and TiO2. The present study is of immediate interest in next-generation solar film collectors, heat exchangers technology, materials processing exploiting vertical surfaces, geothermal energy storage and all those processes which are highly affected with heat enhancement concept.

► Flow and heat transfer characteristics of different nanofluids are studied. ► Variational finite element method with linear basis function is implemented.► Heat tranfer enhancement is observed with nanofluids. ► Different models for spherical and cylindrical nanoparticles are considered.