Using of artificial neural networks and different evolutionary algorithms to predict the viscosity and thermal conductivity of silica-alumina-MWCN/water nanofluid

This study predicts the parameters such as viscosity and thermal conductivity in silica-alumina-MWCN/water nanofluid using the artificial intelligence method and using design variables such as solid volume fraction and temperature. In this study, 6 optimization algorithms were used to predict and numerically model the μnf and TC of silica-alumina-MWCNT/water–NF. In this study, six measurement criteria were used to evaluate the estimates obtained from the coupling process of GMDH ANN with each of these 6 optimization algorithms. The results reveal that the influence of the φ is notably higher on both μnf and TC with values of 0.83 for μnf and 0.92 for TC, while Temp has a relatively weaker impact with −0.5 for μnf and 0.38 for TC. Among various algorithms, the coupling of the evolutionary algorithm NSGA II with ANN and GMDH performs best in predicting μnf and TC for the NF, with a maximum margin of deviation of −0.108 and an R2 evaluation criterion of 0.99996 for μnf and 1 for TC, indicating exceptional model accuracy. In the subsequent phase, a meta-heuristic Genetic Algorithm minimizes μnf and TC values. Four points (A, B, C, and D) along the Pareto front are selected, with point A representing the optimal state characterized by low values of φ and Temp (0.0002 and 50.8772, respectively) and corresponding target function values of 0.9988 for μnf and 0.6344 for TC. In contrast, point D represents the highest values of φ and Temp (0.49986 and 59.9775, respectively) and yields target function values of 2.382 for μnf and 0.8517 for TC. This analysis aids in identifying the optimal operating conditions for maximizing NF performance