Augmenting heat transfer performance in a heat exchanger with CeO2 nanofluids

Abstract

ABSTRACT This work aims at determining the heat transfer enhancement as well as friction losses of CeO2 nanofluids (NFs) in a double pipe heat exchanger. Cerium Oxide nanopowder was characterised by Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Thermo-physical properties were measured at different temperatures and concentrations of the NF. Friction factor and Nusselt numbers were determined for various particles loading of 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%. Thermal conductivity enhanced by 7.92% to 12.9% than the based fluid. Experiments were performed for the range of Reynolds numbers of 2000 to 9000. Experimental results showed that for 0.3% concentration of NF, the maximum augmentation in the Nusselt number is 32.35% with a penalty of 1.18 times in terms of friction factor at a Reynolds number of 8720 in contrast to that of the carrier fluid.