Exploring the benefits of functionally graded carbon nanotubes (FG-CNTs) as a platform for targeted drug delivery systems.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Modern therapeutic systems have benefited from the use of functionally graded carbon nanotubes (FG-CNTs) to enhance their efficiency. Various studies have shown that the study of dynamic response and stability of fluid-conveying FG-nanotubes can be improved by considering a Multiphysics framework for the modeling of such a complex biological environment. However, despite noticing important aspects in modeling, the previous studies have drawbacks such as underrepresenting the effect of varying composition of the nanotube on magnetic drug release in drug delivery systems. The present work has the novelty of studying the combined effects of fluid flow, magnetic field, small-scale parameters, and functionally graded material on the performance of FG-CNTs for drug delivery applications. Additionally, the lack of an inclusive parametric study is resolved in the present study by evaluating the significance of different geometrical and physical parameters. As such, the achievements support the development of an efficient drug delivery treatment. METHODS: The Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is implemented to model the nanotube and Hamilton's principle based on Eringen's nonlocal elasticity theory is used to derive the constitutive equations of motion. To add the effect of slip velocity on the CNT's wall, a correction factor is applied to velocity based on the Beskok-Karniadakis model. RESULTS: demonstrate that the dimensionless critical flow velocity increases by 227% as the magnetic field intensity increases from 0 to 20 T, and improves the system stability. On the contrary, drug loading on the CNT has the opposite effect, as the critical velocity decreases from 10.1 to 8.38 using a linear function for drug loading, and it decreases to 7.95 using an exponential function. By employing a hybrid load distribution, an optimum material distribution can be achieved. CONCLUSIONS: To benefit from the potential of CNTs in drug delivery systems while minimizing the instability problems, a suitable design for the drug loading is required prior to the clinical implementation of the nanotube.

Melting phase change heat transfer in a quasi-petal tube thermal energy storage unit.

In the present study, the thermal energy storage of a hot petal tube inside a shell-tube type Thermal Energy Storage (TES) unit was addressed. The shell is filled with the capric acid Phase Change Material (PCM) and absorbs the heat from a hot U-tube petal. The governing equations for the natural convection flow of molten PCM and phase change heat transfer were introduced by using the enthalpy-porosity approach. An automatic adaptive mesh scheme was used to track the melting interface. The accuracy and convergence of numerical computations were also controlled by a free step Backward Differentiation Formula. The modeling results were compared with previous experimental data. It was found that the present adaptive mesh approach can adequately the melting heat transfer, and an excellent agreement was found with available literature. The effect of geometrical designs of the petal tube was investigated on the melting response of the thermal energy storage unit. The phase change behavior was analyzed by using temperature distribution contours. The results showed that petal tubes could notably increase the melting rate in the TES unit compared to a typical circular tube. Besides, the more the petal numbers, the better the heat transfer. Using a petal tube could increase the charging power by 44% compared to a circular tube. The placement angle of the tubes is another important design factor which should be selected carefully. For instance, vertical placement of tubes could improve the charging power by 300% compared to a case with the tubes' horizontal placement.