Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristics of Dilute Alumina–Water Nanofluids in a Pipe at Different Power Inputs

This work addresses the effect of temperature on the thermophysical properties (i.e., density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, and specific heat capacity) of alumina–water nanofluid over a wide temperature range (25°C–75°C). Low concentrations (0–0.5% v/v) of alumina nanoparticles (40 nm size) in distilled water were used in this study. The pressure drop and the effective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids were also estimated for different power inputs and at different flow rates corresponding to Reynolds numbers in the range of 1500–6000. The trends in variation of thermophysical properties of nanofluids with temperature were similar to that of water, owing to their low concentrations. However, the density, viscosity, and thermal conductivity of nanofluids increased, while the specific heat capacity decreased with increasing the nanoparticle concentration. The convective heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluid and the pressure drop along the test section increased with increasing the particle concentration and flow rate of nanofluid. Results showed that the heat transfer coefficient increases, while the pressure drop decreases slightly with increasing the power input. This is because of the fact that increasing power input to heater increases the bulk mean temperature of nanofluids, resulting in a decreased viscosity. The prepared nanofluids were found to be more effective under turbulent flow than in transition flow.     

Convection heat transfer of functionalized MWNT in aqueous fluids in laminar and turbulent flow at the entrance region

In this research, the convective heat transfer coefficients of water-based FMWNT nanofluid have been measured under both laminar and turbulent regimes flowing through a uniformly heated horizontal tube in entrance region. For the first time, we have compared effective parameters to measure the convective heat transfer coefficients for functionalized MWNT suspensions such as Re, mass fraction and temperature, altogether in entrance region. The experimental results indicate that the convective heat transfer coefficient of these nanofluids increases by up to 33–40% at a concentration of 0.25 wt.% compared with that of pure water in laminar and turbulent flows respectively and 20 °C.     

Forced convective heat transfer of nanofluids in microchannels

Convective heat transfer coefficient and friction factor of nanofluids in rectangular microchannels were measured. An integrated microsystem consisting of a single microchannel on one side, and two localized heaters and five polysilicon temperature sensors along the channel on the other side were fabricated. Aluminum dioxide (Al₂O₃) with diameter of 170 nm nanofluids with various particle volume fractions were used in experiments to investigate the effect of the volume fraction of the nanoparticles to the convective heat transfer and fluid flow in microchannels. The convective heat transfer coefficient of the Al₂O₃ nanofluid in laminar flow regime was measured to be increased up to 32% compared to the distilled water at a volume fraction of 1.8 volume percent without major friction loss. The Nusselt number measured increases with increasing the Reynolds number in laminar flow regime. The measured Nusselt number which turned out to be less than 0.5 was successfully correlated with Reynolds number and Prandtl number based on the thermal conductivity of nanofluids.     

Heat transfer of aqueous suspensions of carbon nanotubes (CNT nanofluids)

This paper is mainly concerned about the heat transfer behaviour of aqueous suspensions of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT nanofluids) flowing through a horizontal tube. Significant enhancement of the convective heat transfer is observed and the enhancement depends on the flow conditions (Reynolds number, Re), CNT concentration and the pH, with the effect of pH smallest. Given other conditions, the enhancement is a function of axial distance from the inlet, increasing first, reaching a maximum, and then decreasing with increasing axial distance. The axial position of the maximum enhancement increases with CNT concentration and Re. Given CNT concentration and the pH level, there appears to be a Re above which a big increase in the convective heat transfer coefficient occurs. Such a big increase seems to correspond to the shear thinning behaviour. For nanofluids containing 0.5 wt.% CNTs, the maximum enhancement reaches over 350% at Re = 800, which could not be attributed purely to the enhanced thermal conduction. Particle re-arrangement, shear induced thermal conduction enhancement, reduction of thermal boundary due to the presence of nanoparticles, as well as the very high aspect ratio of CNTs are proposed to be possible mechanisms.     

Convective Heat Transfer and Resistance Characteristics of Nanofluids with Cylindrical Particles

Numerical research on convective heat transfer and resistance characteristics of TiO₂/water nanofluids with cylindrical particles in laminar channel flow are performed by solving the governing equations of fluid flow with the additional term of cylindrical nanoparticles, the equation of probability density functions for cylindrical nanoparticle orientation, and general dynamics equation for nanoparticle volume concentration. The nonuniformity of nanoparticle distribution is considered and the effects of both particle volume concentration and Reynolds number on friction factor and local Nusselt number are mainly analyzed. The results show that the friction factor of nanofluid flow increases with an increase in particle volume concentration. And the friction factor decreases with increasing Reynolds number and is not dependent on the volume concentration at high Reynolds numbers. The Nusselt number declines when the Reynolds number decreases, and finally approaches an asymptotic value after the Reynolds number falls to a certain value. The Nusselt number is higher in the entrance region than at the downstream locations, and will become steady at somewhere downstream when the flow is thermally and hydraulically developed.     

Comparison between single-phase and two-phases CFD modeling of laminar forced convection flow of nanofluids in a circular tube under constant heat flux

In this article, forced convection heat transfer with laminar and developed flow for water-Al₂O₃ nanofluid inside a circular tube under constant heat flux from the wall was numerically investigated using computational fluid dynamics method. Both single and two-phase models are accomplished for either constant or temperature dependent properties. For this study nanofluids with size particles equal to 100 nm and particle concentrations of 1 and 4 wt% were used. It is observed that the nanoparticles when dispersed in base fluid such as water enhance the convective heat transfer coefficient. The Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids were obtained for different nanoparticle concentrations and various Reynolds numbers. Heat transfer was enhanced by increasing the concentration of nanoparticles in nanofluid and Reynolds number. Also, a correlation based on the dimensionless numbers was obtained for the prediction the Nusselt number. The modeling results showed that the predicted values were in very good agreement with reference experimental data.     

Numerical Investigation on Conjugate Heat Transfer Performance of Microchannel Using Sphericity-Based Gold and Carbon Nanoparticles

Numerical study has been carried out on the laminar forced convection flow of nanofluids in a wide rectangular microchannel. The flow and heat transfer characteristics of gold and of single-walled carbon (SWCNT) nanofluids are investigated in order to find an efficient and cost-effective heat transfer fluid. The effects of nanoparticle volume concentration and of spherical and cylindrical particulate sizes on the conjugate heat transfer performance of the microchannel are reported. The effective thermal conductivity of a nanofluid is evaluated on the basis of particle sphericity by considering the volume and surface area of the nanoparticles. The average convective heat transfer coefficient increases with increase in Reynolds number and volume concentration. Moreover, sphericity-based thermal conductivity evaluation showed that increasing the length of the SWCNT nanoparticle has significant effect on the heat transfer performance, concluding that axial heat conduction dominates the radial heat conduction within the nanoparticle. The carbon nanofluid is identified as an optimized heat transfer fluid with better heat transfer characteristics in comparison with the gold nanofluid. It also reduces the cost of the working fluid. The variations in the interface temperature between solid and fluid regions are reported for nanofluids with different concentrations at different Reynolds numbers. The diameter and length of the SWCNT nanoparticle show a significant effect on heat transfer characteristics.     

Convective Heat Transfer and Fluid Dynamic Characteristics of SiO2 Ethylene Glycol/Water Nanofluid

Nanofluids comprised of silicon dioxide (SiO₂) nanoparticles suspended in a 60:40 (% by weight) ethylene glycol and water (EG/water) mixture were investigated for their heat transfer and fluid dynamic performance. First, the rheological properties of different volume percents of SiO₂ nanofluids were investigated at varying temperatures. The effect of particle diameter (20 nm, 50 nm, 100 nm) on the viscosity of the fluid was investigated. Subsequent experiments were performed to investigate the convective heat transfer enhancement of nanofluids in the turbulent regime by using the viscosity values measured. The experimental system was first tested with EG/water mixture to establish agreement with the Dittus-Boelter equation for Nusselt number and with Blasius equation for friction factor. The increase in heat transfer coefficient due to nanofluids for various volume concentrations has been presented. Pressure loss was observed to increase with nanoparticle volume concentration. It was observed that an increase in particle diameter increased the heat transfer coefficient. Typical percentage increases of heat transfer coefficient and pressure loss at fixed Reynolds number are presented.     

Numerical investigation into the convective heat transfer of TiO2 nanofluids flowing through a straight tube under the laminar flow conditions

A numerical study has been performed by using both single phase method and combined Euler and Lagrange method on the convective heat transfer of TiO₂ nanofluids flowing through a straight tube under the laminar flow conditions. The effects of nanoparticles concentrations, Reynolds number, and various nanoparticle aggregates sizes are investigated on the flow and the convective heat transfer behaviour. The results show significant enhancement of heat transfer of nanofluids particularly in the entrance region. The numerical results are compared with the experimental data and reasonable good agreement is achieved.     

Experimental investigation of turbulent flow and convective heat transfer characteristics of alumina water nanofluids in fully developed flow regime

In this paper the convective heat transfer and friction factor of the nanofluids in a circular tube with constant wall temperature under turbulent flow conditions were investigated experimentally. Al₂O₃ nanoparticles with diameters of 40 nm dispersed in distilled water with volume concentrations of 0.1–2 vol.% were used as the test fluid. All physical properties of the Al₂O₃–water nanofluids needed to calculate the pressure drop and the convective heat transfer coefficient were measured. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid is higher than that of the base fluid and increased with increasing the particle concentrations. Moreover, the Reynolds number has a little effect on heat transfer enhancement. The experimental data were compared with traditional convective heat transfer and viscous pressure drop correlations for fully developed turbulent flow. It was found that if the measured thermal conductivities and viscosities of the nanofluids were used in calculating the Reynolds, Prandtl, and Nusselt numbers, the existing correlations perfectly predict the convective heat transfer and viscous pressure drop in tubes.     

Numerical analysis of laminar flow heat transfer of nanofluids in a flattened tube

In this work, a three-dimensional analysis is used to study the heat transfer performance of nanofluid flows through a flattened tube in a laminar flow regime and constant heat flux boundary condition. CuO nanoparticles dispersed in ethylene glycol with particle volume concentrations ranging between 0 and 4 vol.% were used as working fluids for simulating the heat transfer of nanofluids. Effects of some important parameters such as nanoparticle volume concentration, particles Brownian motions, and Reynolds number on heat transfer coefficient have been determined and discussed in details. Results have shown that the heat transfer coefficient increases with increase in the volume concentration level of the nanoparticle, Brownian motion and the Reynolds number. Numerical results have been validated by comparison of simulations with those available in the literature.     

Study on forced convective heat transfer of non-newtonian nanofluids

This paper is concerned with the forced convective heat transfer of dilute liquid suspensions of nanoparticles (nanofluids) flowing through a straight pipe under laminar conditions. Stable nanofluids are formulated by using the high shear mixing and ultrasonication methods. They are then characterised for their size, surface charge, thermal and rheological properties and tested for their convective heat transfer behaviour. Mathematical modelling is performed to simulate the convective heat transfer of nanofluids using a single phase flow model and considering nanofluids as both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid. Both experiments and mathematical modelling show that nanofluids can substantially enhance the convective heat transfer. Analyses of the results suggest that the non-Newtonian character of nanofluids influences the overall enhancement, especially for nanofluids with an obvious non-Newtonian character.     

Thermal and rheological characteristics of CuO–Base oil nanofluid flow inside a circular tube

In the present experimental investigation, stable CuO–Base oil nanofluids with different particle weight fractions of 0.2% to 2% are prepared. Then, these fluids are used for heat transfer measurements as well as rheological behavior investigation. Density, thermal conductivities, viscosities and specific heat capacities of base fluid and all nanofluids at different temperatures are measured and the effect of nanoparticles concentration on fluid properties is investigated. Also, heat transfer characteristics of CuO–Base oil nanofluids laminar flow in a smooth tube under constant heat flux are studied experimentally. Experimental results clearly indicate that addition of nanoparticles into the base fluid enhances the thermal conductivity of the fluid and the enhancement increases with increasing of particle concentration. For the particle concentrations tested, nanofluids exhibit Newtonian behavior. It is observed that the dynamic viscosity substantially increases with the increase in nanoparticle concentration and this increase is more pronounced at the lower temperatures of the nanofluid. The specific heat capacity of nanofluids is significantly less than that of base fluid and it is decreased with the increase in nanofluid concentration. The results show that for a specific nanoparticle concentration, there is an increase in heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid flow compared to pure oil flow. A maximum increase of 12.7% in Heat Transfer coefficient was observed for 2 wt.% nanofluid at the highest Reynolds number studied in this investigation. Furthermore, heat transfer coefficients obtained using experimental fluid properties are compared to those obtained using the existing theoretical models for fluid properties.     

Numerical investigation of nanofluids forced convection in circular tubes

In this paper, developing laminar forced convection flow of a water–Al₂O₃ nanofluid in a circular tube, submitted to a constant and uniform heat flux at the wall, is numerically investigated.A single- and two-phase model (discrete particles model) is employed with either constant or temperature-dependent properties. The investigation is accomplished for size particles equal to 100 nm. The maximum difference in the average heat transfer coefficient between single- and two-phase models results is about 11%. Convective heat transfer coefficient for nanofluids is greater than that of the base liquid. Heat transfer enhancement increases with the particle volume concentration, but it is accompanied by increasing wall shear stress values. Higher heat transfer coefficients and lower shear stresses are detected in the case of temperature dependents models. The heat transfer always improves, as Reynolds number increases, but it is accompanied by an increase of shear stress too.Moreover a comparison with data present in the literature is carried out.     

Numerical investigation of effective parameters in convective heat transfer of nanofluids flowing under a laminar flow regime

This article presents a numerical investigation on heat transfer performance and pressure drop of nanofluids flows through a straight circular pipe in a laminar flow regime and constant heat flux boundary condition. Al₂O₃, CuO, carbon nanotube (CNT) and titanate nanotube (TNT) nanoparticles dispersed in water and ethylene glycol/water with particle concentrations ranging between 0 and 6 vol.% were used as working fluids for simulating the heat transfer and flow behaviours of nanofluids. The proposed model has been validated with the available experimental data and correlations. The effects of particle concentrations, particle diameter, particles Brownian motions, Reynolds number, type of the nanoparticles and base fluid on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of nanofluids were determined and discussed in details. The results indicated that the particle volume concentration, Brownian motion and aspect ratio of nanoparticles similar to flow Reynolds number increase the heat transfer coefficient, while the nanoparticle diameter has an opposite effect on the heat transfer coefficient. Finally, the present study provides some considerations for the appropriate choice of the nanofluids for practical applications.     

Heat transfer enhancement for combined convection flow of nanofluids in a vertical rectangular duct considering radiation effects

In this paper, combined convective heat transfer and nanofluids flow characteristics in a vertical rectangular duct are numerically investigated. This investigation covers Rayleigh numbers in the range of 2 × 10⁶ ≤ Ra ≤ 2 × 10⁷ and Reynolds numbers in the range of 200 ≤ Re ≤ 1000. Pure water and five different types of nanofluids such as Ag, Au, CuO, diamond, and SiO₂ with a volume fraction range of 0.5% ≤ φ ≤ 3% are used. The three‐dimensional steady, laminar flow, and heat transfer governing equations are solved using finite volume method (FVM). The effects of Rayleigh number, Reynolds number, nanofluids type, nanoparticle volume fraction of nano‐ fluids, and effect of radiation on the thermal and flow fields are examined. It is found that the heat transfer is enhanced using nanofluids by 47% when compared with water. The Nusselt number increases as the Reynolds number and Rayleigh number increase and aspect ratio decreases. A SiO₂ nanofluid has the highest Nusselt number and highest wall shear stress while the Au nanofluid has the lowest Nusselt number and lowest wall shear stress. The results also revealed that the wall shear stress increases as Reynolds number increases, aspect ratio decreases, and nanoparticle volume fraction increases. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20354     

Flow and convective heat transfer characteristics of water-based Al2O3 nanofluids in fully developed laminar flow regime

We have measured the pressure drop and convective heat transfer coefficient of water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluids flowing through a uniformly heated circular tube in the fully developed laminar flow regime. The experimental results show that the data for nanofluid friction factor show a good agreement with analytical predictions from the Darcy’s equation for single-phase flow. However, the convective heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluids increases by up to 8% at a concentration of 0.3 vol% compared with that of pure water and this enhancement cannot be predicted by the Shah equation. Furthermore, the experimental results show that the convective heat transfer coefficient enhancement exceeds, by a large margin, the thermal conductivity enhancement. Therefore, we have discussed the various effects of thermal conductivities under static and dynamic conditions, energy transfer by nanoparticle dispersion, nanoparticle migration due to viscosity gradient, non-uniform shear rate, Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis on the remarkable enhancement of the convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids. Based on scale analysis and numerical solutions, we have shown, for the first time, the flattening of velocity profile, induced from large gradients in bulk properties such as nanoparticle concentration, thermal conductivity and viscosity. We propose that this flattening of velocity profile is a possible mechanism for the convective heat transfer coefficient enhancement exceeding the thermal conductivity enhancement.     

On heat transfer in external natural convection flows using two nanofluids

In the present work, a theoretical model based on the integral formalism approach for both laminar and turbulent external natural convection is extended to nanofluids. By using empirical models based on experimental data for computing viscosity and thermal conductivity of water–alumina and water–CuO suspensions, a close attention is first focused on the influence due to increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles on the heat transfer and then to the transition threshold between laminar and turbulent regimes. The heat transfer is shown to strongly depend on the flow regime and on particle volume fraction. A clear degradation of heat transfer is observed using nanofluids while compared to that of the base-fluid. Moreover, the fact of increasing the particle volume fraction tends to delay the occurrence of the flow transition to turbulence.     

Experimental study on heat transfer and pressure drop of in-house synthesized graphene oxide nanofluids

Abstract

In this article, first, graphene oxide nanosheets were synthesized in-house according to the modified Hummers method, and these nanosheets were used to prepare graphene oxide nanofluids at two concentrations. Then the thermophysical properties of nanofluids were characterized using X-ray diffraction analysis, a scanning electron microscope, and UV–Vis spectrophotometry. The particle size distribution was investigated using dynamic light scattering. Then, a fundamental study was conducted on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of graphene oxide nanofluids flowing through a straight copper tube. An experimental setup was developed to find the heat transfer characteristics and pressure drop of nanofluids in the test section consisting of a copper tube with constant heat flux. The flow regimes and associated pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics at varying flow rate were investigated at three different heat flux conditions of 7.4, 9.1, and 12.6?kW/m². Due to the increase in viscosity, flowrate and Reynolds number decreased from 0.01 to 0.1?wt% of graphene oxide nanofluids at constant pump frequency. Experimental data obtained for water were validated with the findings from the literature, and the correlations were formulated for the Nusselt number and Reynolds number by considering the multiple regression analysis. The convective heat transfer coefficient for graphene oxide at 0.01?wt% was higher when compared to graphene oxide at 0.1?wt% and water. The variation of Nusselt number with the heat flux and velocity was insignificant.     

Numerical Simulation of Nanoparticles Concentration Effect on Forced Convection in a Tube With Nanofluids

The present study aims to identify effects due to convection heat transfer in a tube. Turbulent and laminar forced convection flow of a water–Al₂O₃ nanofluid in a tube subjected to a constant and uniform temperature at the wall was numerically analyzed. The single-phase model was employed to simulate the nanofluid convection, taking into account appropriate thermophysical properties. Particles are assumed spherical with a diameter equal to 24 nm. Simulations have been carried out for the pertinent parameters in the following ranges: Reynolds number from 10³ to 10⁵ and volumetric fraction of alumina nanoparticles between 0 to 4%. It is found that convective heat transfer coefficient for nanofluids is greater than that of the base liquid. Heat transfer enhancement is increasing with the particle volume concentration and Reynolds number. As for the friction factor, it shows a good agreement with the classical correlation used for normal fluid, such as the Blasius formula. Moreover, a study on wall shear stress was attempted.