A smoothed particle hydrodynamics approach for numerical simulation of nano-fluid flows

Nano-fluidic flow and heat transfer around a horizontal cylinder at Reynolds numbers up to 250 are investigated by using weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (WCSPH). To be able to simulate enhanced nanoparticle heat transfer, this manuscript describes for the first time a development that allows conductive and convective heat transfer to be modelled accurately for the Eckert problem using WCSPH. The simulations have been conducted for Pr = 0.01–40 with nanoparticle volumetric concentrations ranging from 0 to 4%. The velocity fields and the Nusselt profiles from the present simulations are in a good agreement with the experimental measurements. The results show that WCSPH is appropriate method for such numerical modelling. Additionally, the results of heat transfer characteristics of nano-fluid flow over a cylinder marked improvements comparing with the base fluids. This improvement is more evident in flows with higher Reynolds numbers and higher particle volume concentration.