Study of turbulent heat transfer of the nanofluids in a cylindrical channel

Abstract

The experiment investigation of turbulent forced convection of nanofluids with SiO2 and Al2O3 nanoparticles was carried out. Nanoparticle concentration varied in the range from 0.5 to 2vol.% in the experiments. The nanoparticle size ranged from 10 to 100nm. The dependence of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop from the concentration, size, material of the nanoparticles and temperature was studied. It was shown that adding nanoparticles to the coolant significantly influences the heat transfer coefficient in the turbulent flow regime. It is shown that with increasing nanoparticles concentration, the local and average heat transfer coefficients at a fixed Reynolds number increase. Decrease in heat transfer coefficient with increasing particles concentration may take place at a fixed flow rate. It is shown that, the heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluid in turbulent regime increases with increasing nanoparticles size at a fixed flow rate, while has a certain maximum at a fixed Reynolds number. The effect of nanoparticles material on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure loss has been also demonstrated. It is found that the inlet temperature is another factor having a significant effect on turbulent heat transfer performance of nanofluids.