Numerical investigation of TiO2 and MWCNTs turbine meter oil nanofluids: Flow and hydrodynamic properties

Abstract

The main aim of the present study is to evaluate the influence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) on lubricant and fluid flow within natural gas turbine meters. In light of this purpose, disparate concentration of TiO2 NPs (0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 wt%), various volume flow rates 0.14, 0.35, and 0.12 cm3S were employed for experimental analyses. In the facet of simulation, Gambit software version 2. 4. 6 to mesh oil pathway and Fluent software version for solving the equations were utilized. It was revealed that the pressure drop in the presence of nanoparticles was increased. Moreover, there was an increase in pressure drop value with raising the NPs concentration; for instance, the pressure drop value of MWCNTs-containing nanofluids at the volume flow rate of 0.35 cm enhanced from 92.72 Pa to 94.64 Pa as the NPs concentration raised from 0.1 to 0.3. Furthermore, modeling outcomes corroborated the uptrend in pressure drop value by increasing the volume flow rate and reported the maximum pressure drop value of 0.12 cm3S. On the other hand, the numerical results revealed that the friction coefficient is directly and inversely proportional to NPs concentration and the volume flow rates, sequentially. Additionally, with increasing the volume flow rate, the entrance length increased, and reaching the developed state was delayed. It is worth noting as the final finding of this study that increasing the NPs concentration resulted in decreasing the entrance length and the fast reaching of the developed state.