Artificial intelligence-based entropy generation investigation of two-phase nanofluid flow in a heatsink with pin fins

Abstract

It is crucial to assess the efficiency of using entropy generation (EYG) in energy-consuming devices. In this article, a study is done on the EYG of laminar water/alumina nanofluid (NFD) in a heatsink (HTK) with circular pin fins. The NFD enters the middle of the HTK and exits around it and passes through the pin fins. The bottom portion of the HTK is subjected to a steady flux, and the temperature of the HTK is lowered by the cold NFD. By changing the diameter and height of pin fins and their distance, the values of thermal EYG (TEYG), frictional EYG (FEYG), and total EYG (TOEYG) are estimated and the contours of temperature and NFD flow are presented. An optimization is performed on the results by using the response surface method (RSM) in the range of the studied variables to obtain minimum amounts of EYG and HTK temperature. The finite element method (FEM) and the two-phase mixture method are utilized to simulate the NFD flow. The findings show that increasing the height of the pin fins decreases thermal and TOEYG while increasing FEYG. Enhancing the distance between the pin fins, leads to a slight decrease in thermal and TOEYG.