Galerkin finite element inspection of thermal distribution of renewable solar energy in presence of binary nanofluid in parabolic trough solar collector

Abstract

Solar collectors absorb solar radiation at the focus of solar concentrating systems in the form of thermal energy which is then transferred to the nanofluid. The work targets the entropy generation in a binary nanofluid porous medium flow over an infinite flat surface. The non-linear fluid motion is triggered by the extending surface in a parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC). On applying suitable similarity transformation the governing PDEs and their partial differential and the bounding constraints are attenuated into ODEs system. Approximate solutions of ODEs were solved using Galerkin finite element method (G-FEM). Two distinct engine oil-based nanofluids containing copper (Cu-EO) and magnetite (Fe3O4-EO) were evaluated and the findings were described. A substantial magnetic parameter lowered the Nusselt amount but raised the drag force factor, according to the results. Additionally, total entropy alterations in the model are increased for fluidity using Reynolds, and viscosity variations are tracked using the Brinkman amount. A new analysis stated that a binary nano-based fluid improved the thermal prospector in the PTSC. The sticking feature of the investigation is the comparative heat transfer rate of Cu/Fe3O4-EO. The heat competence of Cu-EO over Fe3O4-EO gets down to a minimal level of 1.6% and peaked at 14.9%.