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Experimental study on the heat transfer and flow properties of γ-Al2O3/water nanofluid in a double-tube heat exchanger

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Abstract

Double-tube heat exchanger is primarily adapted to high-temperature, high-pressure applications due to their relatively small diameters. An experimental study performed to investigate the effects of Al2O3/water nanofluid on the hydrodynamics and convective heat transfer of a counter flow double-tube heat exchanger. The nanofluid was used as hot fluid and passed through the inner tube of the heat exchanger considering fully developed turbulent flow regime. Experiments were conducted at the nanofluid flow rates of 7, 9, and 11 L min−1, nanofluid inlet temperatures of 45, 55, and 65 °C, and dilute nanoparticle concentrations of 0.05 and 0.15 vol%. Local convective heat transfer coefficient in double-tube heat exchanger has been measured experimentally for the first time. Results showed that nanofluids had higher Nusselt number than pure water. Also, the Nusselt number increased by increasing particles volume fraction, flow rate as well as temperature of nanofluid. However, increasing the convective heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluids was not sensible with increasing the concentration. In addition, the ratio of the heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid to that of the base fluid decreased by increasing Reynolds number. Adding γ-Al2O3 nanoparticles to the base fluid increased the friction factor. In this study, the greatest enhancement in the heat transfer coefficient and the friction factor obtained at 0.15 vol% concentration of nanoparticles which were 23 and 25 %, respectively.

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Abbreviations

CNT:

Carbon nanotube

C p :

Specific heat (J K−1 °C−1)

DWCNTs:

Double-walled carbon nanotubes

D B :

Brownian diffusion coefficient

D T :

Thermophoresis diffusion coefficient

Exp:

Experimental

EG:

Ethylene glycol

f :

Friction factor

h :

Heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

h :

Hour

ID:

Inner diameter (mm)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

L:

Liter

L :

Length of the test section (m)

N BT :

Ratio of the Brownian to thermophoretic diffusivities

Nu :

Nusselt number

P :

Pressure (Pa)

PC:

Personal computer

Pe :

Peclet number

Pr :

Prandtl number

PID:

Proportional–integral–derivative

PVC:

Polyvinyl chloride

q :

Heat transfer rate (kW)

Q h :

Volume flow rate of hot water (L min−1)

Q c :

Volume flow rate of cooling water (L min−1)

Ra :

Rayleigh number

Re :

Reynolds number

TEM:

Transmission electron microscopy

T :

Temperature (°C)

V :

Volt

vol:

Volume

x :

Axial distance

φ :

Volume fraction

ε :

Roughness (m)

μ :

Viscosity (Pa s)

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

∆ :

Difference

av:

Average

b:

Bulk

bf:

Base fluid

c:

Cold

e:

Equivalent

h:

Hot

i:

Inner

nf:

Nanofluid

o:

Outer

p:

Particle

w:

Wall

x:

Local

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, 98164-161, Iran

    Behrouz Raei & Farhad Shahraki

  2. Petroleum Engineering Department, Petroleum University of Technology, Ahwaz, Iran

    Mohammad Jamialahmadi

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Mahshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr, Iran

    S. M. Peyghambarzadeh

Authors
  1. Behrouz Raei
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  2. Farhad Shahraki
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  4. S. M. Peyghambarzadeh
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Correspondence to Farhad Shahraki.

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Raei, B., Shahraki, F., Jamialahmadi, M. et al. Experimental study on the heat transfer and flow properties of γ-Al2O3/water nanofluid in a double-tube heat exchanger. J Therm Anal Calorim 127, 2561–2575 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-016-5868-x

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