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A critical review of forced convection heat transfer and pressure drop of Al2O3, TiO2 and CuO nanofluids

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Abstract

Nanofluid is the colloidal suspension of nanosized solid particles like metals or metal oxides in some conventional fluids like water and ethylene glycol. Due to its unique characteristics of enhanced heat transfer compared to conventional fluid, it has attracted the attention of research community. The forced convection heat transfer of nanofluid is investigated by numerous researchers. This paper critically reviews the papers published on experimental studies of forced convection heat transfer and pressure drop of Al2O3, TiO2 and CuO based nanofluids dispersed in water, ethylene glycol and water–ethylene glycol mixture. Most of the researchers have shown a little rise in pressure drop with the use of nanofluids in plain tube. Literature has reported that the pumping power is appreciably high, only at very high particle concentration i.e. more than 5 %. As nanofluids are able to enhance the heat transfer at low particle concentrations so most of the researchers have used less than 3 % volume concentration in their studies. Almost no disagreement is observed on pressure drop results of different researchers. But there is not a common agreement in magnitude and mechanism of heat transfer enhancement. Few studies have shown an anomalous enhancement in heat transfer even at low particle concentration. On the contrary, some researchers have shown little heat transfer enhancement at the same particle concentration. A large variation (2–3 times) in Nusselt number was observed for few studies under similar conditions.

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Abbreviations

cp :

Specific heat (J/kg K)

h:

Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)

k:

Thermal conductivity (W/m K)

L:

Characteristic length (m)

d:

Inner diameter of the tube

p:

Pitch of the twisted tape/wire coil/helical insert (m)

Re:

Reynolds Number

Nu:

Nusselt number

Pr:

Prandtl number

f:

Darcy friction factor

q:

Heat flux (W/m2)

T:

Temperature (K)

V:

Velocity (m/s)

EG:

Ethylene glycol

CNT:

Carbon nanotubes

AR:

Aspect ratio (ratio of width to height of longitudinal insert)

TR:

Twist ratio (ratio of diameter of pipe to the pitch of twisted tape/wire coil/helical insert)

ρ:

Density

µ:

Viscosity

φ:

Volume concentration

bf:

Base fluid

nf:

Nanofluid

np:

Nanoparticle

f:

Fluid condition

w:

Wall condition/water properties

x:

Axial direction

m:

Two fluid mixing condition

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  1. Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, 247667, India

    Deepak Khurana, Rajesh Choudhary & Sudhakar Subudhi

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  1. Deepak Khurana
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  2. Rajesh Choudhary
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  3. Sudhakar Subudhi
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Correspondence to Deepak Khurana.

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Khurana, D., Choudhary, R. & Subudhi, S. A critical review of forced convection heat transfer and pressure drop of Al2O3, TiO2 and CuO nanofluids. Heat Mass Transfer 53, 343–361 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-016-1810-9

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