Thesis (MTech (Mechanical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011. / Nanofluid, which was first discovered by the Argonne laboratory, is a nanotechnology- based
heat transfer fluid. This fluid consists of particles which are suspended inside conventional
heat transfer liquid or base fluid. The purpose of this suspension is for enhancing thermal
conductivity and convective heat transfer performance of this base fluid. The name nanofluid
came about as a result of the nanometer- sized particles of typical length scales 1-100nm
which are stably suspended inside of the base fluids. These nanoparticles are of both physical
and chemical classes and are also produced by either the physical process or the chemical
process.
Nanofluid has been discovered to be the best option towards accomplishing the enhancement
of heat transfer through fluids in different unlimited conditions as well as reduction in the
thermal resistance by heat transfer liquids. Various manufacturing industries and engineering
processes such as transportation, electronics, food, medical, textile, oil and gas, chemical,
drinks e.t.c, now aim at the use of this heat transfer enhancement fluid. Advantages such
organisations can obtain from this fluid includes, reduced capital cost, reduction in size of
heat transfer system and improvement of energy efficiencies. This research has been able to solve numerically, using Maple 12 which uses a fourth- fifth
order Runge -kutta- Fehlberg algorithm alongside shooting method, a set of nonlinear
coupled differential equations together with their boundary conditions, thereby modelling the
heat and mass transfer characteristics of the boundary layer flow of the nanofluids. Important
properties of these nanofluids which were considered are viscosity, thermal conductivity,
density, specific heat and heat transfer coefficients and microstructures (particle shape, volume concentration, particle size, distribution of particle, component properties and matrixparticle
interface). Basic fluid dynamics equations such as the continuity equation, linear momentum equation,
energy equation and chemical species concentration equations have also been employed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:cput/oai:localhost:20.500.11838/2157 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Olanrewaju, Anuoluwapo Mary |
| Contributors | Makinde, O. D., Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. |
| Publisher | Cape Peninsula University of Technology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/za/ |
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