Fundamentals of Thermal Transfer of Nanofluids in Porous Media

Abstract

Heat transfer enhancement (HTE) is a topic of everlasting importance in thermal engineering research. The latest focuses in this field are on nanosolutions for more efficient thermal transmission fluids (a) and designs of metallic foams (b) Metallic foams provide extended surfaces for HTE and possess advantages such as a high value of Cp, high thermal conductivity (TC) and being light weight. nanosolutions, on the other hand, can be used as an efficient HT medium as they exhibit higher TCs in comparison to base fluids. This review paper summarizes the physical properties of nanosolutions and or within the metal foam, focusing on HT and flow properties of nanosolutions, metal foam and combined NS-metal foam systems. The inspiration novelty for this review is the basic transference identifications for the HT enhancement of nanosolutions in porous media. The aim of the work is to provide insight on how nanosolutions in conjunction with porous media can be useful for HTE.