Heat transfer enhancement by nanofluid coupling with surfactant in overcoming particle agglomeration for microchannel heat sinks

Abstract

The characteristic effect of nanoparticles, Boron Nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) in the nanofluid with and without surfactant, was investigated using numerical CFD. A simplified microchannel heat sink model was created and discretized for numerical analysis. The numerical prediction was validated with previous experiment data for promising numerical agreement. Then, the effect of different Triton X-100 surfactant volume fractions and nanotube mass fractions in the base fluid were carried out on thermal and hydraulic performance. The significant finding revealed that the thermal resistance was reduced by as much as 90 % compared to pure water with a surfactant concentration of 0.35 vol. % and adding 0.02 wt. % at the Reynold number (Re) of 400. However, the Nusselt number (Nu) increased twice from the pure water with an t substrate thickness, (mm) Hc channel height, (mm)