Results

In the current paper, a mathematical model to describe the nanoparticles transport carried by a two-phase flow in a porous medium is presented. Both capillary forces as well as Brownian diffusion are considered in the model. A numerical example of countercurrent water-oil imbibition is considered. We monitor the changing of the fluid and solid properties due to the addition of the nanoparticles using numerical experiments. Variation of water saturation, nanoparticles concentration and porosity ratio are investigated.

In this work, the problem of flow and heat transfer of nanofluids in spirally fluted tubes is investigated numerically using the CFD code Fluent. The tube investigated in this work is characterized by the existence of helical ridging which is usually obtained by embossing a smooth tube. A tube of diameter of 15 mm, 1.5 mm groove depth and a single helix with pitch of 64 mm is chosen for simulation. This geometry has been chosen for simulation because it has been investigated experimentally for pure fluids and would, therefore, provide a verification framework with our CFD model. The result of our CFD investigation compares very well with the experimental work conducted on this tube geometry. Interesting patterns are highlighted and investigated including the existence of flow swirl as a result of the existence of the spirally enhanced ridges. This swirl flow enhances heat transfer characteristics of this system as reported in the literatures. This study also shows that further enhancement is achieved if small amount of nanoparticles are introduced to the fluid. These nanoparticles (metallic-based nanoparticles) when introduced to the fluid enhances its heat transfer characteristics.