Modeling and Optimization of Nanofluid Flow in Flat Tubes Using a Combination of CFD and Response Surface Methodology

In this paper, modeling and optimization of Al₂O₃–water nanofluid flow in horizontal flat tubes is performed using a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and response surface methodology (RSM). At first, nanofluid flow is solved numerically in various flat tubes using CFD techniques and the heat transfer coefficient () and pressure drop () in tubes are calculated. The numerical simulations are performed using two phase mixture model by FORTRAN programming language. The flow regime and the wall boundary conditions are assumed to be laminar and constant heat flux respectively. In the second step, numerical data of the previous step will be used for a parametric study, modeling and optimization of nanofluid flow in flat tubes using the RSM technique.It is shown that the results include important design information on nanofluid parameters in flat tubes. The important design information about the relationship between design variables and responses will not be achieved without the simultaneous use of CFD and optimization approaches.