Experimental study and viscosity modeling by adding oxide nanoparticles to oil to improve the performance

Abstract

The properties of nanofluid (NF) were investigated by adding SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) to oil . The main focus is viscosity of NF in solid volume fractions SVF= 0.5–1.5%, T = 25–50 °C, and variousshear rates (SRs) in a laboratory study. After the preparation of NPs, NFs have been prepared in a 2-step method and then viscosity values have been obtained using a viscometer. Examining the changes in viscosity according to SR shows that changes are downward and increasing SR causes a decrease in viscosity. Increasing SVF increases viscosity. At beginning of the addition of NPs in SVF= 0.125%, the viscosity decreases. Temperature (T) changes also had a direct relationship with viscosity. Also, the results of response surface methodology (RSM) modeling were obtained as R²= 0.9961, Adjusted R²= 0.9958, and Predicted R²= 0.9953. This indicates excellent accuracy of the modeling. The significance of the model is less than 0.0001 and equal to 2872.91 with P-value and F-value, respectively. Deviation from the standard was also reported as − 10 <MOD< +10. The maximum sensitivity of viscosity to SVF is 0.25%.