Friction factor analysis for a nanofluid circulating in a microchannel filled with a homogeneous porous medium

Abstract

This work presents the numerical solution for different velocity profiles and friction factors on a rectangular porous microchannel fully saturated by the flow of a nanofluid introducing different viscosity models, including one nanofluid density model. The Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer equation was used to solve the momentum equation in the porous medium. The results show that the relative density of the fluid, the nanoparticle diameters and their volumetric concentration have a direct influence on the velocity profiles only when the inertial effects caused by the presence of the porous matrix are important. Finally, it was found that only viscosity models that depend on temperature and nanoparticle diameter reduce the friction factor by seventy percent compared to a base fluid without nanoparticles; furthermore, these models show a velocity reduction of even ten percent along the symmetry axis of the microchannel.