Numerical Prediction of Laminar Nanofluid Flow in Rectangular Microchannel

Saidu Bello AbuBakar; Nor Azwadi Che Sidik; Hong Wei Xian

Authors

Saidu Bello AbuBakar Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kano University of Science and Technology Wudil, Nigeria
Nor Azwadi Che Sidik Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Hong Wei Xian Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Keywords:

Nanofluid, laminar flow, CFD, Fe3O4-H2O4

Abstract

Numerical simulation of laminar nanofluid flow in three-dimensional (3D) straight rectangular microchannel heat sink is carried out. In this study, the behavior and the effect of using pure water and Fe3O4-H2O4 as working fluids in the microchannel are examined. Fe3O4-H2O4 with volume fraction range of 0.4% - 0.8% are used in this simulation to evaluate the cooling performance of microchannel heat sink. Fluent, a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is used as the solver of simulation. A rectangular microchannel with hydraulic diameter of 86 µm and length of 10mm under the boundary condition of constant heat flux and uniform inlet velocity is set on this analysis. Results of present work using Fe3O4-H2O4 as coolant are expected to give higher efficiency of heat transfer in microchannel heat sink in comparison to pure water.