Abstract: A numerical calculation method was used to study the laminar forced convective heat transfer of water-based nanofluid with cubic, spherical or cylindrical Al₂O₃ nanoparticles in a flat plate channel. The effects of nanoparticle sphericity, nanoparticle volume fraction and Reynolds number on the forced convective heat transfer of Al₂O₃-water nanofluid in the flat plate channel were also analyzed. The results show that when nanoparticle volume fraction and Reynolds number keep constant, both the average Nusselt number on the channel wall and the intensity of convective heat transfer increase with the decrease of the sphericity of nanoparticles. With the increase of nanoparticle volume fraction and Reynolds number, the average Nusselt number on the channel wall becomes increasing when nanoparticle sphericity keeps constant and the corresponding intensity of the convective heat transfer increases also as a result.

Key words: nanofluid, forced convection, sphericity of nanoparticles, parallel-plate channel, numerical simulation