Heat transfer enhancement of automobile radiator using H2O–CuO nanofluid

In this article, we study heat transfer enhancement of water based nanofluids with application to automotive radiators. In this respect, we consider here three types of different nanoparticles viz. copper oxide (CuO), Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and Aluminum oxide (Al2O3). The dynamics of the flow in a radiator is governed by set of partial differential equations (PDEs) along with boundary conditions which are formulated. Suitable similarity transformations are utilized to convert the PDEs into their respective system of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The boundary value problem is solved using Shooting method embedded with Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg (RK-5) numerical scheme. Effects of different physical parameters are studied on profiles of velocity and temperature fields at boundary. In addition, influence of nanoparticle concentration factor on the local coefficient of skin-friction and Nusselt number is analyzed. We conclude that water based nanofluids with copper oxide nano-particles have a much higher heat transfer rate than the Al2O3-water and TiO2-water nanofluids. Moreover, larger the concentration of the CuO nanoparticles in the base fluid higher is the heat transfer rate of CuO-water nanofluid.