The present experimental work is performed to investigate the convection heat transfer (HT), pressure drop (PD), irreversibility, exergy efficiency and thermal performance for turbulent flow inside a uniformly heated circular channel fitted with novel geometry of hybrid tape. Air is taken as the working fluid and the Reynolds number is varied from 10,000 to 80,000. Hybrid tape is made up of a combination of grooved spring tape and wavy tape. The results obtained with the novel hybrid tape show significantly better performance over individual tapes. A correlation has been developed for predicting the friction factor (f) and Nusselt number (Nu) with novel hybrid tape. The results of this investigation can be used in designing heat exchangers. This paper also presented a statistical analysis of the heat transfer and fluid flow by developing an artificial neural network (ANN)-based machine learning (ML) model. The model is trained based on the features of experimental data, which provide an estimation of experimental output based on user-defined input parameters. The model is evaluated to have an accuracy of 98.00% on unknown test data. These models will help the researchers working in heat transfer enhancement-based experiments to understand and predict the output. As a result, the time and cost of the experiments will reduce.

The present numerical study investigates the effect of external magnetic field on a magnetic nanofluid flow in an inclined channel. A uniform magnetic field is used to generate vortex in the channel for heat transfer enhancement. Fe₃O₄–water nanofluid of 2 vol. % is flowing in an inclined two-dimensional channel with a heated bottom wall. Numerical simulations are carried out for different inclination angles varying from −90° < θ < 90° at low Reynolds numbers, in the presence of external magnetic field of intensities varying from 0–2000 G. The heat sink has dimensions of 40 × 4 mm², with a magnet pair placed at 15 mm from the origin. Different thermo-hydraulic properties, like Nusselt number, friction factor, pressure drop and thermal enhancement factor (TEF), are calculated for all the cases. There is an average increase in the Nusselt number by 4.95% and 19.27% when a magnetic field of 1500 and 2000 G is applied, respectively. This heat transfer enhancement comes with a penalty of 32.95% and 89.23% increase in the friction factor for the respective magnetic fields. Magnetic field decreases the pressure drop by reducing the contact area for positive inclinations, while increases pressure drop by increasing turbulence for negative inclinations. TEF for the flow increases by 9.53% and 12.50% when the magnetic field of 1500 and 2000 G is applied, respectively. The TEF value is observed to be greater than one for very large ranges of inclinations when magnetic fields are applied, as compared to the flow without magnetic field.

The rapid advancement of high-density electronic devices and data centres has heightened the demand for effective thermal management solutions capable of handling elevated heat fluxes within compact domains. Conventional cooling techniques often fail to meet these requirements efficiently. This study presents a numerical investigation of heat transfer enhancement in a mini-channel heat sink through the combined use of passive vortex generators (ribs) and externally applied magnetic fields. A two-dimensional simulation was conducted for a 40 mm × 4 mm mini-channel employing a 2% Fe₃O₄–water nanofluid, with magnets positioned at X = 15 mm and X = 25 mm to generate non-uniform magnetic fields ranging from 800 to 2000 G. Three rib configurations parallel, staggered, and ribbed were evaluated across a Reynolds number range of 50, 75, 100, 150, 180, and 210. Results indicate that the ribbed configuration provides the highest heat transfer improvement, achieving up to a 65% increase relative to the baseline, while the parallel arrangement attained the highest absolute Nusselt number. The friction factor increased with stronger magnetic fields but decreased with higher Reynolds numbers. The thermal enhancement factor remained consistently above unity, with peak values of 2.06 for ribbed, 1.77 for parallel, and 1.52 for staggered layouts. Overall, this study demonstrates that integrating rib-induced vortex generation with magnetic field effects offers a promising strategy for enhancing the thermal performance of mini-channel heat sinks, addressing the cooling demands of next-generation electronic and data centre applications.