Mixed Convection of Alumina/Water Nanofluid in Microchannels using Modified Buongiorno's Model in Presence of Heat Source/Sink

The nanoparticle migration effects on mixed convection of alumina/water nanofluid in a vertical microchannel in the presence of heat source/sink with asymmetric wall heating are theoretically investigated. The modified two-component heterogeneous model is employed for the nanofluid in the hypothesis that the Brownian motion and the thermophoresis are the only significant bases of nanoparticle migration. Because of low dimensional structures in microchannels, a linear slip condition is considered at the surfaces, which appropriately represents the non-equilibrium region near the interface. Considering hydrodynamically and thermally fully developed flow, the basic partial differential equations including the continuity, momentum, energy, and nanoparticle fraction have been reduced to two-point ordinary boundary value differential equations before they have been solved numerically. The scale analysis of governing equations has shown that the buoyancy effects due to the temperature distribution is insignificant, however, the buoyancy effects due to the concentration distribution of nanoparticles have considerable effects on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids. It is also revealed that the imposed thermal asymmetry would change the direction of nanoparticle migration and distorts the symmetry of the velocity, temperature and nanoparticle concentration profiles. Moreover, the best performance of the system is achieved under one-sided heating and a greater slip velocity at the walls.