Fluid–structure interaction of free convection in a square cavity divided by a flexible membrane and subjected to sinusoidal temperature heating

Purpose: The purpose of the present paper is to model a cavity, which is equally divided vertically by a thin, flexible membrane. The membranes are inevitable components of many engineering devices such as distillation systems and fuel cells. In the present study, a cavity which is equally divided vertically by a thin, flexible membrane is model using the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) associated with a moving grid approach. Design/methodology/approach: The cavity is differentially heated by a sinusoidal time-varying temperature on the left vertical wall, while the right vertical wall is cooled isothermally. There is no thermal diffusion from the upper and lower boundaries. The finite-element Galerkin technique with the aid of an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian procedure is followed in the numerical procedure. The governing equations are transformed into non-dimensional forms to generalize the solution. Findings: The effects of four pertinent parameters are investigated, i.e., Rayleigh number (104 = Ra = 107), elasticity modulus (5 × 1012 = ET = 1016), Prandtl number (0.7 = Pr = 200) and temperature oscillation frequency (2p = f = 240p). The outcomes show that the temperature frequency does not induce a notable effect on the mean values of the Nusselt number and the deformation of the flexible membrane. The convective heat transfer and the stretching of the thin, flexible membrane become higher with a fluid of a higher Prandtl number or with a partition of a lower elasticity modulus. Originality/value: The authors believe that the modeling of natural convection and heat transfer in a cavity with the deformable membrane and oscillating wall heating is a new subject and the results have not been published elsewhere

MHD thermogravitational convection and thermal radiation of a micropolar nanoliquid in a porous chamber

This work studies the thermogravitational transmission and thermal radiation of micropolar nanoliquid within

Latent heat thermal storage of nano-enhanced phase change material filled by copper foam with linear porosity variation in vertical direction

The melting flow and heat transfer of copper-oxide coconut oil in thermal energy storage filled with a nonlinear copper metal foam are addressed. The porosity of the copper foam changes linearly from bottom to top. The phase change material (PCM) is filled into the metal foam pores, which form a composite PCM. The natural convection effect is also taken into account. The effect of average porosity; porosity distribution; pore size density; the inclination angle of enclosure; and nanoparticles’ concentration on the isotherms, melting maps, and the melting rate are investigated. The results show that the average porosity is the most important parameter on the melting behavior. The variation in porosity from 0.825 to 0.9 changes the melting time by about 116%. The natural convection flows are weak in the metal foam, and hence, the impact of each of the other parameters on the melting time is insignificant (less than 5%)

The effect of different configurations of copper structures on the melting flow in a latent heat thermal energy semi-cylindrical unit

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT: Data are contained within the article.Utilizing latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) units shows promise as a potential solution for bridging the gap between energy supply and demand. While an LHTES unit benefits from the latent heat of the high-capacity phase change material (PCM) and experiences only minor temperature variations, the low thermal conductivity of PCMs hinders the rapid adoption of LHTES units by the market. In this regard, the current work aims to investigate the thermal behavior of a semi-cylindrical LHTES unit with various copper fin configurations (including horizontal, inclined, and vertical fins) on the melting flow. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that no prior studies have delved into the impact of various fin structures on the thermal performance of a semi-cylindrical LHTES system. The nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM) fills the void within the unit. The warm water enters the semicircular channel and transfers a portion of its thermal energy to the solid NePCM through the copper separators. It is found that the system experiences the highest charging capability when the fins are mounted horizontally and close to the adiabatic upper wall. Moreover, the presence of dispersed graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) inside the pure PCM increases the charging power and temperature of the LHTES unit.Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/mathematicsMechanical and Aeronautical EngineeringSDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructur

Thermal charging optimization of a wavy-shaped nano-enhanced thermal storage unit

Data Availability Statement: Data is contained within the article.Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. A wavy shape was used to enhance the thermal heat transfer in a shell-tube latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) unit. The thermal storage unit was filled with CuO–coconut oil nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM). The enthalpy-porosity approach was employed to model the phase change heat transfer in the presence of natural convection effects in the molten NePCM. The finite element method was applied to integrate the governing equations for fluid motion and phase change heat transfer. The impact of wave amplitude and wave number of the heated tube, as well as the volume concertation of nanoparticles on the full-charging time of the LHTES unit, was addressed. The Taguchi optimization method was used to find an optimum design of the LHTES unit. The results showed that an increase in the volume fraction of nanoparticles reduces the charging time. Moreover, the waviness of the tube resists the natural convection flow circulation in the phase change domain and could increase the charging time.Funding: This research received no external funding

Latent heat thermal storage of nano-enhanced phase change material filled by copper foam with linear porosity variation in vertical direction

Data Availability Statement: Data is contained within the article.Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. The melting flow and heat transfer of copper-oxide coconut oil in thermal energy storage filled with a nonlinear copper metal foam are addressed. The porosity of the copper foam changes linearly from bottom to top. The phase change material (PCM) is filled into the metal foam pores, which form a composite PCM. The natural convection effect is also taken into account. The effect of average porosity; porosity distribution; pore size density; the inclination angle of enclosure; and nanoparticles’ concentration on the isotherms, melting maps, and the melting rate are investigated. The results show that the average porosity is the most important parameter on the melting behavior. The variation in porosity from 0.825 to 0.9 changes the melting time by about 116%. The natural convection flows are weak in the metal foam, and hence, the impact of each of the other parameters on the melting time is insignificant (less than 5%).Funding: This research received no external funding

Effect of the quasi-petal heat transfer tube on the melting process of the nano-enhanced phase change substance in a thermal energy storage unit

Data Availability Statement: The data will be available on request.Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. The melting heat transfer of nano-enhanced phase change materials was addressed in a thermal energy storage unit. A heated U-shape tube was placed in a cylindrical shell. The cross-section of the tube is a petal-shape, which can have different amplitudes and wave numbers. The shell is filled with capric acid with a fusion temperature of 32 °C. The copper (Cu)/graphene oxide (GO) type nanoparticles were added to capric acid to improve its heat transfer properties. The enthalpy-porosity approach was used to model the phase change heat transfer in the presence of natural convection heat transfer effects. A novel mesh adaptation method was used to track the phase change melting front and produce high-quality mesh at the phase change region. The impacts of the volume fraction of nanoparticles, the amplitude and number of petals, the distance between tubes, and the angle of tube placements were investigated on the thermal energy rate and melting-time in the thermal energy storage unit. An average charging power can be raised by up to 45% by using petal shape tubes compared to a plain tube. The nanoadditives could improve the heat transfer by 7% for Cu and 11% for GO nanoparticles compared to the pure phase change material.Funding: This research received no external funding

Effect of non-identical magnetic fields on thermomagnetic convective flow of a nanoliquid using Buongiorno’s model

Energy transport intensification is a major challenge in various technical applications including heat exchangers, solar collectors, electronics, and others. Simultaneously, the control of energy transport and liquid motion allows one to predict the development of the thermal process. The present work deals with the computational investigation of nanoliquid thermogravitational energy transport in a square region with hot cylinders along walls under non-uniform magnetic influences. Two current-carrying wires as non-identical magnetic sources are set in the centers of two heated half-cylinders mounted on the bottom and left borders, while the upper wall is kept at a constant low temperature. Buongiorno’s model was employed with the impact of Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis. Governing equations considering magnetohydrodynamic and ferrohydrodynamic theories were solved by the finite element technique. The effects of the magnetic sources strengths ratio, Lewis number, Hartmann number, magnetic number, buoyancy ratio, Brownian motion characteristic, and thermophoresis feature on circulation structures and heat transport performance were examined. For growth of magnetism number between 0 and 103 one can find an increment of heat transfer rate for the half-cylinder mounted on the bottom wall and a reduction of heat transfer rate for the half-cylinder mounted on the left wall, while for an increase in magnetism number between 103 and 104, the opposite effects occur. Moreover, a rise in the Lewis number characterizes the energy transport degradation. Additionally, an intensification of energy transport could be achieved by a reduction of the thermophoresis parameter, while the Brownian diffusion factor and buoyancy ratio have a negligible influence on energy transport. Furthermore, the heat transfer rate through the half-cylinder mounted on the bottom wall declines with an increase in the magnetic sources strengths ratio

Analysis of NePCM melting flow inside a trapezoidal enclosure with hot cylinders : effects of hot cylinders configuration and slope angle

DATA AVAILABILITY : Data will be made available on request.Please read abstract in the article.Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University.https://www.elsevier.com/locate/csitehj2024Mechanical and Aeronautical EngineeringSDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructur

Study of tree-shaped optimized fins in a heat sink filled by solid-solid nanocomposite phase change material

The aim of this work is to comprehensively study the effect of the material of the simple plate and tree-shaped optimized fins on the thermal behavior of an enclosed medium filled with a nanocomposite of neopentyl glycol/ CuO solid-solid PCM. Increasing the heat transfer rate using a fixed amount of material is an important task that improves the fin performance. The tree-shaped fin is optimized based upon the density-based structure optimization method. A transient model based upon the enthalpy method is employed to numerically study the thermal behavior of the enclosed medium containing the SS-PCM. The thermal performance of the heat sink with the tree-shaped optimized and simple plate fins made of different materials are explored. Results show that the aluminum and copper fins have the highest melting rate compared to the examined materials. Their melting rate is 50% higher than steel 302 in the case of flat plates, and 25% in the case of a tree structure. Also, the tree- shaped optimized fins outperform the plate structure fins by reaching the lowest temperature of the concentrated heat source and temperature non-uniformity under the condition that the two strucutures have the same height. When the two heights are different, the temperature distribution was optimized for materials with the lowest thermal conductivity. For steel materials, a 10% decrease in the maximum temperature was observed in the tree structure compared to the flat plates. Finally, it was shown that the nanoparticle fraction played a negligible role in heat transfer, as less than 1% change in melting rate and temperature parameters was obtained