Experimental Comparison Among Thermal Characteristics of Three Metal Oxide Nanoparticles/Turbine Oil-Based Nanofluids Under Laminar Flow Regime

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate heat transfer characteristics of turbine oil-based nanofluids inside a circular tube in laminar flow under a constant heat flux boundary condition. Oil-based nanofluids were prepared dispersing less than 1 % volume concentrations of CuO, $$\hbox {TiO}_{2}$$ , and $$\hbox {Al}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$$ nanoparticles in turbine oil using a two-step method. The primary objective was to evaluate and compare the effect of different volume concentrations and nanoparticle types on convective heat transfer. An experimental apparatus was designed and constructed to measure the heat transfer coefficient and the Nusselt number of the samples. Due to the high Prandtl number of the nanofluids (about 350), it was concluded that the nanofluids were in the developing region. Experimental results clearly indicated that all of the added nanoparticles improved both the heat transfer coefficient and the Nusselt number of the turbine oil. A nanofluid is more capable than a single-phase fluid insofar as removing heat from high heat flux surfaces. The highest values of the Nusselt number and the Nusselt number ratio (the ratio of the nanofluid Nusselt number to that of the pure turbine oil) belonged to the CuO/turbine oil nanofluid. Among the sample nanofluids, the highest Nusselt number ratios belonged to CuO/turbine oil (0.50 %), $$\hbox {TiO}_{2}$$ /turbine oil (0.50 %), $$\hbox {Al}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$$ /turbine oil (0.50 %), and a Reynolds number of about 800 which were 1.38, 1.31, and 1.15, respectively. Moreover, so as to determine the efficiency of a nanofluid, the ratio of the pressure drop and Nusselt number of three nanofluid samples were compared with that of the base fluid. A third parameter (performance index) was evaluated to determine the possibility of practically using such for rating nanofluids. All the obtained performance indexes for CuO/turbine oil and $$\hbox {TiO}_{2}$$ /turbine oil were more than one, meaning the employment of such nanofluids leads to a higher quality turbine oil.