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Experimental investigation of forced convective heat transfer enhancement of γ-Al2O3/water nanofluid in a tube

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Abstract

The effect of nanofluids on heat transfer inside circular tubes under uniform constant heat flux boundary condition was investigated. The working nanofluid was a suspension of γ-Al2O3 nanoparticles of average diameter 20 nm. The heat transfer coefficients were calculated experimentally in the range of 1057 < Re < 2070 with different particle volume concentrations of 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.9%. Increasing the particle volume fraction led to enhancement of the convective heat transfer coefficient. The results show that the average heat transfer coefficient increased 16.8% at 0.9% volume concentration and Reynolds number of 2070 compared with distilled water. In addition, the enhancement of the convective heat transfer was particularly significant in the entrance region and decreased with axial distance. Finally, an empirical correlation for Nusselt number has been proposed for the present range of nanofluids. The mean deviation between the predicted Nusselt number and experimental values for the new correlation is 3.57%.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

    Aminreza Noghrehabadi & Rashid Pourrajab

Authors
  1. Aminreza Noghrehabadi
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  2. Rashid Pourrajab
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Correspondence to Aminreza Noghrehabadi.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Dae Hee Lee

Aminreza Noghrehabadi is an associate professor in Mechanical Engineering at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. His research interests are on the field of nanofluid heat and mass transfer, NEMS actuators and heat transfer in porous media.

Rashid Pourrajab is graduate M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. His research has been mainly focused on the development of new heat transfer enhancement fluid called nanofluids. He is working on modeling, production and experiments with nanofluids.

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Noghrehabadi, A., Pourrajab, R. Experimental investigation of forced convective heat transfer enhancement of γ-Al2O3/water nanofluid in a tube. J Mech Sci Technol 30, 943–952 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0148-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0148-z

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