Change of Thermal Conductivity and Cooling Performance for Water Based Al2O3-Surfactant Nanofluid with Time Lapse

Abstract

An experimental research was performed to study the effect of time lapse on the change of water-Al2O3 nanofluid thermal conductivity and its convection heat transfer. The size of Al2O3 nanoparticle size was 20[Formula: see text]nm and 70[Formula: see text]nm, and initial volumetric concentration range was from 0.5% to 3%. A surfactant was added to the nanofluid and the change of thermal conductivity and convection heat transfer was also measured. The surfactant was Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate (SDBS) and its mass fractions in the nanofluid were from 0.5% to 3.0%. Thermal conductivity of water and nanofluid was measured by the transient hot wire method. The accuracy of the measurement method was confirmed by the measurement error with 0.92% for distilled water at 20[Formula: see text]C. The thermal conductivity of the nanofluid without SDBS increased up to 11.3% and the enhancement decreased with time lapse. The reduction of thermal conductivity enhancement with the time lapse could be retarded by the addition of SDBS and its effect became higher with the increase of its mass fraction. The convection heat transfer characteristics of the nanofluid was measured in a small cooling system. Compared with pure water, nanofluid convection heat transfer could be enhanced but higher pressure drop also occurred. Compared with the convection heat transfer enhancement for the nanofluid without SDBS, the addition of SDBS decreased the enhancement at the initial stage of the experiment, but it could retard the reduction of convection heat transfer with time lapse.