A Review on the Discrete Boltzmann Model for Nanofluid Heat Transfer in Enclosures and Channels

Utilizing nanofluids to enhance heat transfer is shown to be a promising option with many practical applications. As the dimensions of the enclosures and channels for fluid flows steadily decrease, the energy carrying particle behavior for thermal transport becomes more significant. Therefore, the thermal analysis requires a mesoscale approach to describe the enhanced mechanism of heat transfer at the micro-scale level, and the interactions between the multicomponent fluid and its boundary conditions. For this purpose, the spatial and temporal discretization of the Boltzmann model leading to a thermal lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) recovers the macroscopic conservations of momentum and energy through particle collisions and streaming at mesoscale discrete nodes. In this article, the LBM studies for convective heat transfer, including the external forces, is reviewed in order to allow us to identify the research gaps and to reveal the promising future possibilities of its use for nanofluids.