Boiling characteristics in small vertical tubes with closed bottom for nanofluids and nanoparticle-suspensions

Abstract

An experimental study was carried out to understand the nucleate boiling characteristics and the critical heat flux (CHF) of water, the water based nanofluids and the water based nanoparticle-suspensions in vertical small heated tubes with a closed bottom. Here, the nanofluids consisted of the base liquid, the CuO nanoparticles and the surfactant. The nanoparticle-suspensions consisted of the base liquid and CuO nanoparticles. The surfactant was sodium dodecyl benzene sulfate. The study focused on the influence of the nanoparticles and surfactant on the nucleate boiling characteristics and the CHF. The experimental results indicated that the nanoparticle concentrations of the nanofluids and nanoparticle-suspensions in the tubes do not change during the boiling processes; the nanoparticles in the evaporated liquid are totally carried away by the steam. The boiling heat transfer rates of nanofluids are poorer than that of the base liquid. However, the boiling heat transfer rates of nanoparticle-suspensions are better than that of the base liquid. Comparing with the base liquid, the CHF of the nanofluids and the nanoparticle-suspensions is higher. The CHF is only related to nanoparticle mass concentration when the tube length and the tube diameter are fixed. The experiment confirm that there is a thin nanoparticle coating layer on the heated surface after the nanofluids boiling test but there is no coating layer on the heated surface after the nanoparticle-suspensions boiling test. This coating layer is the main reason that deteriorates the boiling heat transfer rates of nanofluids. An empirical correlation was proposed for predicting the CHF of nanofluids boiling in the vertical tubes with closed bottom.