Abstract In the current study, numerical simulation of laminar flow and heat transfer of water mixture with carbon nanotubes (CNT) as nanofluids in a 90 degree curved pipe are considered. The incompressible Navier-Stokes and energy equations are solved numerically in a body fitted coordinates system using a control volume technique. An interfacial layer-based model is applied to predict the thermal conductivity of nanofluid. The axial velocity contours, secondary flow patterns and temperature fields for different values of the particles concentrations are examined in detail. Furthermore, the effects of nanoparticles concentration on the heat transfer are studied. The results indicate that due to the secondary flows induced by curvature effects, the heat transfer rate is improved, and enhanced remarkably further using nanofluids. Furthermore, the nanoparticles, especially at higher concentration levels, generate more uniform cross sectional temperature distributions.

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