Experimental and numerical study of Pool boiling and critical heat flux enhancement using water based silica Nanofluids

Abstract

Experimental and Numerical Studies on saturated pool boiling have been carried out over a nichrome wire submerged in both distilled water and silica–water based nanofluids. The concentrations of the silica nanoparticles are varied from 0.01 vol.% to 0.05 vol.% in step size of 0.01. Numerical simulation has been carried out by using Mixture Multiphase Approach. Moreover, heat flux values by applying traditional Rohsenow correlation and the surface-liquid constant (Csf) for wire and nanofluids is proposed that fits the experimental as well as numerical data. From the present work, it is inferred that the numerical solutions are in good agreement with the experimental data. Furthermore, thin nanoparticle coatings on heating surface were observed after each experiment. Critical Heat Flux enhancement in nanofluids may be due to the deposition of nanoparticles over the heater surface. Also, the Critical Heat Flux of nanofluids was found to be 38.5% higher (at 0.03 vol.% of silica nanoparticles concentration) as compared to distilled water.