Work

Enhanced thermal energy storage using micropolar fluids: A numerical study

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This study develops and solves a micropolar-fluid model for heat storage in a rectangular duct subject to constant wall heat flux. The dimensionless mass, linear and angular momentum, and energy equations are treated with a Runge-Kutta (for the coupled momentum ODEs) and finite-difference scheme (for the energy PDE). Increasing the coupling parameter raises the dimensionless axial velocity while initially reducing and then increasing microrotation; the net effect is a decrease in dimensionless temperature, indicating diminished storage effectiveness. In contrast, higher spin-gradient viscosity reverses these trends and enhances thermal storage. Reynolds and Prandtl numbers exhibit inverse relationships with the temperature profile. Quantitatively, the mean Nusselt number is ≈ 2.53 at an entrance length of x * ≈ 5.5 , while the local Nusselt number decays approximately exponentially downstream and approaches zero. For a low-inertia case ( Re = 5 ), the peak fluid temperature reached ∼ 95 ∘ C under the imposed heat flux. These results clarify how micropolar parameters govern heat transfer and storage performance, offering guidance for tuning ducts that use micropolar working fluids.

Source: Energy Exploration & Exploitation

DOI: 10.1177/01445987251385019

Authors: Hamzeh Duwairi, Makram Migdady, Mohammad Alrbai

Institution: University of Jordan

Language: English

Topic: Nanofluid Flow and Heat Transfer

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,000