Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-024-12928-9

Effect of using hybrid nanofluid and vortex generator on thermal

performance of plate–fin heat exchanger: numerical investigation
Mohammad Alhuyi Nazari1,2 · Azfarizal Mukhtar3 · Ali Mehrabi4 · Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi5 ·
Mohsen Sharifpur6,7 · T. N. L. Luong1,2

Received: 13 December 2023 / Accepted: 13 January 2024

© Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2024

Abstract
Performance improvement of heat exchangers is important since their size and manufacturing cost can be decreased. This
study aims to evaluate two techniques, namely use of nanofluid and employment of vortex generator (VG) applicable in
performance improvement of a fin–plate heat exchanger. In the present article, a numerical investigation is carried out on
a fin–plate heat exchanger by considering effects of employment of hybrid nanofluid, MWCNT-Fe3O4/water with 0.3%
concentration, and winglet VG with different angles. In this regard, computational fluid dynamics is applied by using SST
turbulence models. Results of the simulation reveal that employment of the nanofluid and VG induces enhancement in the
heat transfer. Heat transfer improvement by use of VG is mainly due to the boundary layer reduction and intensification of
turbulent flow and nanofluids enhance thermal performance owing to the increase of the fluid thermal conductivity. The
augmentation in the heat transfer in case of using VG was dependent on its configuration. Moreover, simultaneous usage
of both of them would further augment the heat transfer. The maximum heat transfer rate improvement in case of using the
nanofluid without VG, with vortex generator and without the nanofluid and with the nanofluid and vortex generator is around
5.2, 69.2 and 74.6%, respectively.

Keywords Heat exchanger · Hybrid nanofluid · Vortex generator · Thermal performance · Computational fluid dynamics
(CFD)

2
* Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi School of Engineering and Technology, Duy Tan University,
mohammadhosein.ahmadi@gmail.com; Da Nang, Vietnam
mhosein.ahmadi@shahroodut.ac.ir 3
Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional,
* Mohsen Sharifpur Putrajaya Campus, Jalan IKRAM‑UNITEN, 43000 Kajang,
mohsen.sharifpur@up.ac.za Malaysia
4
Mohammad Alhuyi Nazari Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University
mohammadalhuyinazari@duytan.edu.vn of Technology, Tehran, Iran
5
Azfarizal Mukhtar Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University
azfarizal@uniten.edu.my of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
6
Ali Mehrabi Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering,
mehrabi.ali89@yahoo.com University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
7
T. N. L. Luong Department of Medical Research, China Medical University
tnlluong@duytan.edu.vn Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
1
Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University,
Da Nang, Vietnam

Vol.:(0123456789)

Introduction
Heat exchangers (HEs) can be defined as the heat transfer
means employed for transferring heat between at least two
streams with different temperatures [1]. HEs are applicable
in different energy systems such as heat recovery units [2],
water heating systems [3], geothermal technologies [4],
air conditioners [5], etc. [6]. Improvement in the perfor-
mance of HEs is the concern of designers and engineers
regarding the importance of size and cost reduction. Sev-
eral factors, namely the architecture and operating fluids,
are involved in the performance of heat exchanger. In the
majority of the HEs, fluids streams are segregated by use
of surface for avoiding the mixture [7]. HEs are applicable
in different energy systems such as solar heaters [8], heat
recovery units [9], thermal power plants [10], etc. [11].
The key components of HEs are the outlets and inlets of
streams, a core with surface of heat transfer applied for
keeping the streams discrete and some extra components
such as the pipes and tank [7]. Different criteria have been
used for classifications of HEs. As one of the conventional
criteria, HEs are divided into three main classes, namely
direct contact, recuperator and regenerator. In the first type
of HEs, the two inlet streams combine and mix together.
Cooling towers and power plants feedwater heaters are
some of the examples of direct contact HEs. In recupera-
tors, a wall is applied to separate the fluids. The heat trans-
fer between the fluids is through convection between the
fluid and wall and conduction via the wall to the other
fluid. The main disadvantages of these types of HEs are
high capital cost and pressure drop. In regenerator HEs,
thermal energy is transmitted to the storage medium,
known as matrix or core of HE, from the hot stream and
the cold stream received heat from this component [12].
Heat transfer intensification in HEs has several ben-
efits such as requirement for less area of heat transfer for
a constant heat duty due to the improved coefficient of
heat transfer, improvement in the capacity of heat trans-
fer without variation in the physical size and reduction in
the pumping need in some cases since higher coefficients
of heat transfer would be available with lower speed of
fluids that leads to lower losses due to friction [13]. The
significance of augmentation in the thermal performance
of HEs has induced development and utilization of sev-
eral techniques known as heat transfer improvement [14].
Employment of working fluids with improved thermal
properties, using additional heat transfer area and modifi-
cations in topology are among the conventional methods
for efficiency enhancement of HEs [15, 16]. Nanofluids
(NFs), owing to their augmented thermal properties, have
broadly utilized in HEs and other thermal systems for per-
formance elevation [17–19]. It has been shown that use of
M. Alhuyi Nazari et al.
nanofluid can improve convective heat transfer coefficient
in different channels and geometries [20]. This technique,
making use of nanofluids, has been evaluated in different
types of HEs. Radkar et al. [21] applied ZnO nanoparticles
in a helical coil HE at constant temperature of wall. They
outlined that employment of the nanoparticles in 0.25%
volume fraction (VF) induced 18.6% elevation in Nusselt
number at the test section exit. Zheng et al. [22] made use
of different NFs including SiC/water, CuO/water, A ­ l 2O 3/
water and F ­ e3O4/water in a plate HE. The highest eleva-
tion in mean Nusselt number was reported for ­Fe3O4/water
nanofluid at concentration of 1.0 mass% that was 22.6%;
however, it was noted that pressure drop is increased com-
pared with using water, e.g. 10.1% for the nanofluid with
1.0 mass% concentration. Said et al. [23] investigated
the influence of employment of CuO/water NF in a shell
and tube HE. 5% increase in overall heat transfer coef-
ficient and 11.39% elevation in convective heat transfer
and 6.81% decrement in the area were reported for the HE
with the NF compared with water. Hybrid NFs, containing
more than one type of nanomaterial as solid phase [24],
have been tested in HEs. For instance, Bhattad et al. [25]
employed ­Al2O3-MWCNT/water in a plate HE. Compared
with the case of using water, utilization of the NF induced
39.16% elevation in the heat transfer coefficient and 1.23%
augmentation in the pumping power. Some studies have
applied more than one technique for improvement of heat
transfer in HEs. Kumar et al. [26] applied F ­ e 3O 4/water
NF and twisted tape inserts in a double-pipe U-bend HE.
They reported an increment in the Nusselt number of the
NF with elevation in the concentration of the nanoparticles
and Reynolds number and noted further increment with a
decrement in the twisted tape inserts twist ratio. Nakh-
chi and Esfahani [27] analyzed performance of HE tube
equipped with cross-cut twisted tape by using Cu/water
NF. Up to 23.20% elevation in the heat transfer coefficient
was reported in case of incrementing the VF of nanopar-
ticles from 0 to 1.5%.
The plate–fin HE is among the compact HEs with high
efficiency of heat transfer, flexibility and lightweight [28].
These types of HEs have been investigated by several schol-
ars. Zhang and Li [29] applied computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) to investigate effect of inlet configuration of plate–fin
HE by considering two modified headers with a two-stage
distributing architecture. It was reported that there is more
uniform flow distribution in cases both headers ratios of
inlet and outlet equivalent diameters are equal. Xue et al.
[30] investigated the performance of a fin–plate HE by con-
sidering discontinuous wavy fins and staggered wavy fins.
They noted that in case of applying perforated wavy fin, hole
enlargement causes intensification in turbulence of flow and
better thermal–hydraulic function. In case of staggered wavy
fin, larger staggered ratio causes better thermal–hydraulic
Effect of using hybrid nanofluid and vortex generator on thermal performance of plate–fin heat…

function. In another work [31], effect of channel shape on Continuity equation in general form is expressed as follows:
the performance of a plate–fin HE was analyzed and it was
𝜕 ( )
revealed that employment of channel with vortex generator 𝜌ui = 0 (1)
𝜕Xi
leads to a remarkable improvement in the coefficient of heat
transfer and reduction in the surface area of HE. Boukhadia Momentum equation is written as follows:
et al. [32] investigated the impact of perforation design on [ ( )]
the heat transfer and fluid flow specifications of a plate–fin 𝜕 ( ) 𝜕P 𝜕 𝜕ui 𝜕ui 2 𝜕ui
𝜌ui uj = − + 𝜇 + − 𝛿
HE. In their work, the HE with and without baffle was 𝜕Xj 𝜕Xi 𝜕Xj 𝜕Xj 𝜕Xi 3 ij 𝜕Xj
considered. In case of baffle employment, two configura- ( )
𝜕 ′ ′
tions with and without perforation were taken into account. + −𝜌ui uj
𝜕Xj
Results indicated that the HE with baffle performs better
(2)
than the HE without baffle. In addition, it was reported that
perforated baffle causes better performance than the baffle Energy equation can be expressed as follows:
without perforation. Wang et al. [33] carried out a numerical [(
Cp 𝜇t 𝜕T
) ]
𝜕 ( 𝜕
study on plate–fin HE hydrodynamic characteristics by uti-
) ( )
ui (E𝜌 + P) = 𝜆+ + ui 𝜏ij eff = 0
𝜕Xi 𝜕Xj Prt 𝜕Xj
lizing porous media approach. They denoted that distribution
of flow in the HE was enhanced by augmentation the fluid (3)
dynamic viscosity or applying perforated fins in the chan- where E refers to the total energy and 𝜏ij eff refers to the
( )

nels; however, the pressure drop increases in these cases. tensor of deviation stress that is defined as follows:
HEs have been applied in the variety of energy systems ( ) ( 2)
including water heating systems, heat recovery units, power P u
E = Cp T − + (4)
plants, etc. Improvement in the performance of HEs would 𝜌 2
be beneficial in terms of efficiency enhancement of the
systems in which they are used, size reduction and cost- 𝜕uj
[ ( ) ]
𝜕u 2 𝜕u
+ i − 𝜇eff i 𝛿ij (5)
( )
effectiveness. Different techniques have been evaluated for 𝜏ij eff = 𝜇eff
𝜕Xi 𝜕Xj 3 𝜕Xj
performance improvement of HEs. Use of vortex generator
(VG) and nanofluids is among the approaches for heat trans- Similar to the previous work [34], k-𝜔 shear stress transport
fer intensification in the HEs. Simultaneous use of these two model. Different turbulence models are applicable in numeri-
techniques can lead to further enhancement of heat transfer. cal simulations of systems with heat and mass transfer in vari-
In the present study, a channel of a plate–fin HE is consid- ety of coordination with various geometries [35, 36]; however,
ered for simulation by applying simple rectangular winglet k-𝜔 shear stress transport model is one of the mostly used
VG. Furthermore, impact of using hybrid nanofluid com- approaches in different studies since it is more reliable and
posed of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-Fe3O4 accurate compared with k − 𝜀 and standard k − 𝜔 for wider
nanostructures in 0.3% concentration is investigated by flows class such as airfoils and adverse pressure gradient flows
employment of CFD as the numerical tool. Different angles [37]. Applied equation for this turbulent model is expressed
of the VG are considered to find the best configuration. Vari- as follows:
ous factors and parameters such as temperature of fluid at ( )
the outlet, heat transfer rate and improvement in this value 𝜕 ( 𝜕 𝜕k
)
𝜌kui = Γk + Gk − Yk + Sk (6)
are considered for the evaluation of the applied methods. 𝜕Xi 𝜕Xj 𝜕Xj
The main novelties of the present work are consideration
of the mentioned hybrid nanofluid, containing the carbon 𝜕 ( ) 𝜕
(
𝜕𝜔
)
nanotubes, and VG for thermal performance enhancement of 𝜌𝜔kui = Γ𝜔 + G𝜔 − Y𝜔 + D𝜔 + S𝜔 (7)
𝜕Xi 𝜕Xj 𝜕Xj
a HE channel and evaluation of VG angle in different condi-
tions with the consideration of use of the hybrid nanofluid. In the above equations, Gk refers to the turbulent kinetic
In the subsequent sections, the governing equations, results energy induced by mean velocity gradients and G𝜔 refers to
and discussion are provided. this term indicator from 𝜔.

Gk = min(Gk , 10𝛽 ∗ k𝜔)

Governing equations ′ ( ) (8)
′ 𝜕uj
Gk = −𝜌 ui uj
The governing equations such as continuity, energy and 𝜕Xi
momentum are defined here according to the study by Sam-
adifar and Toghraie [34]. These equations are as follows:
 M. Alhuyi Nazari et al.

G𝜔 =
𝛼
G 𝛼 ∗ refers to the turbulent viscosity damper and is defined
𝜈t k (9)
as follows:
where 𝜈t refers to the cinematic viscosity of turbulent and
( )
𝛼0∗ + Ret∕R
𝛽 ∗ is the model constant and the value of 𝛼 is determined by 𝛼 ∗ = 𝛼∞ ∗ k

using the following equation. (19)

( )
1 + Ret∕R
k
( / )
𝛼0∗ + Ret R 𝛼 ∗ = 𝛼∞
∗
= 1.0
𝜔
𝛼 = 𝛼∞ ( (10) k𝜌
= 6, 𝛼0∗ = 𝛽i∕3, 𝛽i = 0.072.
)
1 + Ret R Ret = , Rk
/
𝜔𝜇
𝜔
Here
where R𝜔 = 2.95 and determination of 𝛼 is as follows:
F1 = tan Φ41 (20)
( )

(11)
( )
𝛼∞ = F1 𝛼∞,1 + 1 − F1 𝛼∞,2
�� √ � �
k 500𝜇 4𝜌k
𝛽i,1 𝜅2 Φ1 = min max , , (21)
0.09𝜔y 𝜌y2 𝜔 𝜎𝜔,2 D+𝜔 y2
𝛼∞,1 = ∗
𝛽∞
−
𝜎𝜔,1√𝛽 ∗ (12)
∞
[ ]
1 1 𝜕k 𝜕𝜔
𝛽i,2 𝜅2 D+𝜔 = max 2𝜌 , 10 −10
(22)
𝜎𝜔,2 𝜔 𝜕Xj 𝜕Xj
𝛼∞,2 = ∗
𝛽∞
−
𝜎𝜔,2 √ (13)
∗
𝛽∞
where D+𝜔 refers to the diffusion term positive part in cross
where 𝜅 = 0.41, 𝛽i = 0.072 and 𝛼 = 𝛼∞ = 1.0. section. Yw and Yk refer to the 𝜔 and k losses indicators and
Γ𝜔 and Γk refer to the effective diffusions of 𝜔 and k , are defined according to turbulence as follows:
respectively, that are defined as follows:
Yk = 𝜌𝛽 ∗ k𝜔 (23)
𝜇t
Γ𝜔 = 𝜇 +
𝜎𝜔 (14)
Y𝜔 = 𝜌𝛽𝜔2 , 𝛽 ∗ &𝛽 are constants (24)
𝜇t
Γk = 𝜇 + (15) (25)
( )
𝜎k 𝛽i = F1 𝛽i,1 1 − F1 𝛽i,2

𝜎𝜔 and 𝜎k are the turbulent Prandtl number indicators in D𝜔 refers to the term of penetrating in cross section, while
(k-𝜔 ) model and are expressed as follows: S𝜔 and Sk are the source possible conditions; particularly, D𝜔
is as follows:
1
𝜎𝜔 =
F1/ ( ) (16) ( ) 1 𝜕k 𝜕𝜔
𝜎𝜔,1 + 1 − F1 ∕𝜎𝜔,2 D𝜔 = 2 1 − F1 𝜌𝜎𝜔,2
𝜔 𝜕Xj 𝜕Xj (26)

1 The constants of the model are listed in Table 1.

𝜎𝜔 =
F1/ ( ) (17) In this study, some parameters such as dimensionless bulk
𝜎𝜔,1 + 1 − F1 ∕𝜎𝜔,2
temperature (𝜃) and dimensionless distance along the channel
𝜇t refers to the turbulent viscosity and is expressed as (X) are used that are defined as follows:
follows: T − T∞
𝜃= (27)
Tw − T∞
∗ 𝜌k
𝜇t = 𝛼 (18)
𝜔

Table 1  Values of the constant

used for the turbulence model 𝜎k = 2 𝜎k,1 = 1.176 𝜎k,2 = 1 𝜎ω,1 = 2 𝜎ω,2 = 1.68 𝛼1 = 0.31
∗ 𝛽i = 0.072
𝛽∞ = 0.09 𝛽i,1 = 0.075 𝛽i,2 = 0.0828 𝛼0 = 1.9 𝛼∞ = 0.52
∗
𝛼∞ = 1 𝜎ω = 2 R𝛽=8 Rk=9 Rω=2.95 𝜉 ∗ = 1.5
Effect of using hybrid nanofluid and vortex generator on thermal performance of plate–fin heat…

x
X=
H (28)

where T is temperature and subscripts w and ∞ refer to wall Winglet

and operating fluid, respectively. x is the distance from the
inlet, and H is the channel height. Heat transfer rate from
the wall of channels to the fluid is determined as follows:

Q̇ = mc L
(29)
( )
̇ p Tout − Tin H

where the average temperature in the inlet and outlet is used. w

Flo

Fig. 2  Schematic of the channel used for numerical simulation

Model description

Schematic of a cross-flow HE is shown in Fig. 1. As shown

Flow
in this figure, triangular fins are used in this HE. In the
present work, one of the channels is used for numerical
simulation as shown in Fig. 2. In the considered channel,
simple rectangular winglet VG, as illustrated in Fig. 3, Xw
is used at distance of 35 mm from the inlet to enhance
the heat transfer rate. The angle of VG, which is deter-
Fig. 3  Channel with simple rectangular winglet VG
mined as the angle between its length and axis of the flow,
varied between 0 and 90° by steps of 15°. Unstructured
mesh is used for meshing the domain as shown in Fig. 4. to investigate impact of using the nanostructure on heat
It should be noted that symmetry condition is assumed transfer. Properties of the fluids are provided in Table 3.
for the channel. The inlet temperature of the fluid is set
to 20 °C and temperature of the walls is set to 80°C. Grid
independency, as presented in Table 2, is investigated by
considering different numbers of the mesh, depending on
the applied sizes, and the optimal case is used for the sim-
ulation where the variation in the relative errors was less
than 2.5%. Due to the low variations in the temperature,
thermophysical specifications of the fluids are considered
constant. In this simulation, two fluids including water and
MWCNT-Fe3O4/water with 0.3% concentration are used

Hot fluid Cold fluid

Fig. 4  Meshed domain in cases of applying a coarse mesh, b medium

Fig. 1  Schematic of a cross-flow HE mesh, c fine mesh and d very fine mesh
 M. Alhuyi Nazari et al.

Table 2  Numerical results for different meshes 350

Mesh Maximum Number of ele- Error relative 300

number of mesh ments to less coarse

Heat transfer rate/W

250
size mesh/%
200

Coarse 4 26,056 – 150

Medium 2 59,305 5.11 100
Fine 1 318,211 3.47
50
Very fine 0.5 1,941,475 2.15
0
0.006 0.007 0.008
Mass flow rate/kg s–1
Water Nanofluid
Table 3  Properties of the fluids [38, 39]

Density / Dynamic Thermal Specific Fig. 6  Heat transfer rate vs mass flow rate for the channel without VG
kgm−3 viscosity / m conductivity heat /
Pa s / ­Wm−1 ­K−1 ­Jkg−1 ­K−1
6
Water 998.5 0.79 0.602 4182
5
MWCNT- 1055 1.01 0.6856 4131

Heat transfer enhancement/%

Fe3O4/ 4
water
(0.3%) 3

Results and discussion 1

0
In this work, influences of various factors have been con- 0.006 0.007 0.008
sidered on the absorbed heat from the walls of the channel. Mass flow rate/kg s–1

Effect of mass flow rate and the nanofluid Fig. 7  Enhancement in the heat transfer rate for the channel without
VG due to the use of nanofluid

Three mass flow rates including 0.006, 0.007 and 0.008 kg temperature ( 𝜃) parameter along the channel. In Fig. 5,
­s−1 are considered in the first step to analyze its effect on dimensionless bulk temperature along the channel for
the heat transfer rate and variations of dimensionless bulk different mass flow rates for both water and nanofluid is

Fig. 5  Dimensionless tempera- 0.20

ture vs dimensionless length for
different mass flow rates for the 0.18
channel without VG
0.16

0.14

0.12

0.10


Water 0.006 kg s-1

0.08
Water 0.007 kg s-1
0.06 Water 0.008 kg s-1
Nanofluid 0.006 kg s-1
0.04
Nanofluid 0.007 kg s-1
0.02 Nanofluid 0.008 kg s-1

0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
X
Effect of using hybrid nanofluid and vortex generator on thermal performance of plate–fin heat…

(a) (e)
0.25 0.30

0.20 0.25

0.15 0.20


0.10 0.15


Water with vortex generator
0.05 Nanofluid with vortex generator 0.10
Water without vortex generator Water with vortex generator
Nanofluid without vortex generator
Nanofluid with vortex generator
0.00 0.05
Water without vortex generator
0 2 4 6 8
Nanofluid without vortex generator
X 0.00
(b) 0 2 4 6 8
0.30
X
(f)
0.25 0.30

0.20 0.25

0.15 0.20


0.10 0.15


Water with vortex generator
Nanofluid with vortex generator
0.05 Water without vortex generator 0.10
Nanofluid without vortex generator Water with vortex generator
0.00 0.05
Nanofluid with vortex generator
0 2 4 6 8 Water without vortex generator
X Nanofluid without vortex generator
(c) 0.00
0.30 0 2 4 6 8
X
0.25 (g)
0.3000

0.20
0.2500

0.15
0.2000


0.10
0.1500


Water with vortex generator

0.05 Nanofluid with vortex generator
Water without vortex generator
0.1000
Nanofluid without vortex generator Water with vortex generator
0.00
Nanofluid with vortex generator
0 2 4 6 8 0.0500 Water without vortex generator
X
(d) Nanofluid without vortex generator
0.30 0.0000
0 2 4 6 8
X
0.25

Fig. 8  (continued)
0.20

0.15
represented. It can be seen that increase in the mass flow rate


0.10
leads to decrement in the dimensionless bulk temperature
Water with vortex generator
variation. For water, by increment in the mass flow rate from
0.05 Nanofluid with vortex generator 0.006 to 0.008 kg s­ −1, the dimensionless bulk temperature at
Water without vortex generator
Nanofluid without vortex generator the outlet reduces from around 0.18 to approximately 0.15,
0.00 while it reduces from about 0.19 to around 0.16 for the nano-
0 2 4 6 8
X
fluid. It can be attributed to the fact that by augmentation in
the mass flow rate, ratio of variation in the absorbed heat
Fig. 8  Effect of using VG on the dimensionless bulk temperature for
from the walls is lower than variation in the mass flow rate.
mass flow rate of 0.008 kg s­ −1 and angles of a 0°, b 15°, c 30°, d 45◦,
e 60°, f 75° and g 90°
 M. Alhuyi Nazari et al.

Fig. 9  Heat transfer rate for dif- 600

ferent cases and mass flow rate
of 0.008 kg s­ −1 500

Heat transfer rate/W

400

300

200
Water
100
Nanofluid
0

°
0°
to

15

30

45

60

75

90
ta
ne
ge
tex
or
tv
ou
ith
W

Fig. 10  Enhancement in the 80

heat transfer rate for the channel
with VG in different angles and 70
mass flow rate of 0.008 kg ­s−1
Heat transfer enhancement/%

60

50

40 Water
Nanofluid
30

20

10

0
0° 15° 30° 45° 60° 75° 90°

Increase in the heat transfer rate by elevation in the mass 0.35

flow rate from 0.006 to 0.008 kg s­ −1, as shown in Fig. 6, 0.30

is around 14.73 and 15.71% for water and the nanofluid,
respectively. Increase in the heat transfer rate by augmen- 0.25

tation in the mass flow rate is due to the increment in the 0.20
Reynolds number that induces elevation in the convective


heat transfer rate. In addition, comparison between the nano-

0.15 Water 0.006 kg with vortex generator
Water 0.007 kg with vortex generator
fluid and water, for the same mass flow rate, shows that using 0.10 Water 0.008 kg s–1 with vortex generator

the nanofluid instead of water provided higher heat transfer Nanofluid 0.006 kg s–1 with vortex generator
0.05
rate from the walls to the fluid. This increment in the rate
Nanofluid 0.007 kg s–1 with vortex generator
Nanofluid 0.008 with vortex generator
of heat transfer is due to the enhancement in the thermal 0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
conductivity of the nanofluid by adding the nanostructures X
that induces higher coefficient of convective heat transfer.
As illustrated in Fig. 7, improvement in the heat transfer rate Fig. 11  Dimensionless bulk temperature distribution with VG in dif-
due to the usage of the nanofluid is more in cases of higher ferent mass flow rates and angle of 45 ◦
mass flow rates. This parameter is defined as follows:

Q̇ with nanofluid − Q̇ with water Effect of vortex generator

𝜏nf = (30)
Q̇ with water
Employment of VG is one of the techniques used for
where Q̇ refers to the rate of heat transfer. enhancement of heat transfer in thermal devices. Improve-
ment in heat transfer performance by means of VG is
Effect of using hybrid nanofluid and vortex generator on thermal performance of plate–fin heat…
Fig. 12  Enhancement in the
heat transfer rate for the channel
with VG in mass flow rates and
angle 45°
Heat transfer enhancement/%
attributed to the decrement in the thickness of boundary
layer via its deterioration and disruption and intensification
of turbulent flow [40]. Different shapes and structures can
be used as the VG depending on the domain characteristics
and intended requirement. In this study, rectangular winglet
VG, as simple structure, is applied in the channel of the
HE. Different angles are tested for the applied VG to ana-
lyze its effect and find the most appropriate one in terms of
heat transfer rate. Numerical simulation is carried out on
the channel by considering mass flow rate of 0.008 kg s­ −1.
In Fig. 8, comparison between the cases without VG and
with VG in different angles is shown. It can be seen that
in all cases, employment of VG induces increment in the
outlet temperature of the fluid. Similar to the previous case,
making use of nanofluids leads to elevation in the outlet
temperature. In Fig. 9, heat transfer rate for different condi-
tions is represented. The maximum heat transfer rate, among
the tested angles of the VG, belongs to the case of 45°. It
can be attributed to the higher turbulence intensity in this
condition. These findings have good agreement with another
study on a channel with the same VG and using air as the
working fluid [34].
In order to get better insight, enhancement in heat transfer
rate in comparison with the VG without nanofluid and with
VG with nanofluid compared with the case of water with-
out VG is determined. The maximum enhancement in the
heat transfer rate by use of VG and without employment of
the nanofluid is around 69.2%, while it increases to around
74.6% by use of both VG and the nanofluid as illustrated in
Fig. 10. In this condition, further enhancement is reachable
since the convective heat transfer is improved due to the
increment in thermal conductivity of the fluid regarding the
suspension of solid nanomaterials and turbulence intensifi-
cation owing to the employment of the VG. Finally, in case
of the best heat transfer rate, angle of 45°, dimensionless
bulk temperatures in different mass flow rates are compared
as shown in Fig. 11. Heat transfer enhancement in case of
76
74
72
70
68
66
Water
64
Nanofluid
62
60
58
56
0.006 0.007 0.008
Mass flow rate/kg s
applying the VG at angle of 45° and different mass flow
rates is shown in Fig. 12. It can be seen that improvement
in the heat transfer rate is more significant in higher mass
flow rates.
Conclusions
Employment of nanofluids and vortex generator is among
the conventional techniques for improvement of heat trans-
fer rate in different heat exchangers. In the present study,
usage of these techniques for heat transfer improvement
in a channel of a plate–fin heat exchanger is numerically
investigated. The applied nanofluid is MWCNT-Fe 3O 4/
water with 0.3% concentration and the vortex generator
is rectangular winglet type. Different mass flow rates,
0.006, 0.007 and 0.008 kg ­s−1 and angles of vortex gen-
erator, from 0 to 90° with steps of 15° are considered for
the investigation. The main findings can be outlined as
follows:
• Use of the nanofluid and vortex generator induces
increment in the outlet temperature of the fluid which
means higher heat transfer rate of the system by using
these modification techniques.
• Improvement in the heat transfer is dependent on the
operating conditions of the system, and it is more
remarkable at higher rates of mass flow rate.
• Improvement in the heat transfer rate and increase in
the outlet temperature depend on the angle of vortex
generator and reaches their maximum values at angle
of 45°.
• Use of vortex generator is more influential compared
with the nanofluid in terms of heat transfer enhancement.
Maximum enhancement in the heat transfer rate by use
of vortex generator without nanofluid is around 69.2%,
while the highest improvement in the heat transfer rate

with nanofluid and without vortex generator is around
5.2%.
• The maximum heat transfer rate improvement in case
of using both enhancement techniques, hybrid nanofluid
with vortex generator at optimum angle, is 74.6%.
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