Aircraft thermal enhancement via TiO2−SiO2/ PG nanofluids: Solar and magnetic-deborah effects

Abstract

This study investigates the thermal enhancement in aircraft through solar energy capture using parabolic trough solar collectors (PTSC) with hybrid nanofluids. We examine titanium dioxide $\left(Ti{O}_2\right)$ and silicon dioxide $\left(Si{O}_2\right)$ nanoparticles suspended in propylene glycol (PG) as the base fluid. $Ti{O}_2$ can enhance the absorption of solar radiation, $Si{O}_2$ helps stabilize the suspension, while PG has low freezing point making it suitable for use in varying environmental conditions. A mathematical has been transformed into higher-order nonlinear differential equations using similarity transformations. These equations are solved numerically with the bvp4c MATLAB algorithm. The hybrid nanofluid exhibits improved thermal conductivity compared to the nanofluid. The study highlights that $Ti{O}_2$ has advantages due to its photocatalytic properties when exposed to sunlight. The incorporation of the Oldroyd-B model further improves thermal management in aviation cooling systems and energy systems. The novelty lies in combining these nanoparticles with PG for solar-powered aircraft, optimizing aviation thermal efficiency. The results show that with the increase of the radiative parameter value, the relative percentage increases from 93.88 % to 98.41 %, indicating that the radiative heat transfer improves the thermal performance of the hybrid nanofluid, and the most influential factors in improving the heat transfer efficiency are magnetic strength and the Deborah II number, increasing the Nusselt number by 38.96 %–67.89 % and 42.06 %–71.35 %, respectively.