Study on the Characteristics of Flow and Heat Transfer of Polymeric-Fluid-Based Cu Nanofluids

In this paper, we propose a new fluid: drag-reducing-fluid-based nanofluids (DRFBN), i.e., nanoparticles are added into polymer aqueous solution. In order to investigate the flow and heat transfer characteristics of this new fluid, the Reynolds stress turbulence model and equivalent viscosity model are used in the simulations. Wall shear stress and Nusselt number (Nu) are chosen to represent the effects of drag reduction and heat enhancement respectively. The numerical studies mainly focus on the effects of different parameters on wall shear stress and Nu. The results show that comparison with water flow, DRFBN flow still has remarkable drag-reducing effect; comparison with polymer aqueous solution flow, DRFBN flow has some improvement on heat transfer. Therefore, DRFBN has duel effects: drag reduction and heat transfer enhancement. Besides, it is found that the parameters of nanoparticle volume fraction, Reynolds number and drag-reducing parameter have remarkable effects on wall shear stress and Nu of DRFBN flow.