Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Performance of a Hydraulic Mining Shovel Radiator by Using Ethylene Glycol/Water-Based Al2O3 Nanofluids

Abstract

Nanofluids are excellent replacements for vehicle radiator coolants and they have the ability to significantly enrich the performance of vehicle radiators. A numerical study of thermal and hydraulic performance of a hydraulic mining shovel radiator working with nanofluids is carried out. It is observed so far that there are no research works done before analyzing the radiator of this mining equipment. Aluminum oxide in ethylene glycol as nanofluid with volume concentrations of 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% were investigated. The results showed that the heat transfer performance of the radiator can be hindered if thermal operating parameters of the equipment are not varied to take advantage of the benefits done by nanofluids. Additionally, it has been found that the pressure drop performance on the radiator operating in laminar and transitional conditions can reduce pressure drop and therefore pumping power. The analysis presented in this paper concluded that the use of nanofluids essentially depends on thermal and flow conditions.