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Numerical simulation of nanofluid turbulent flow in a double-pipe heat exchanger equipped with circular fins

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Abstract

In this study, the thermal and flow characteristics of a nanofluid were evaluated numerically in a circular finned double-pipe heat exchanger. A 3D CFD model was employed to study the effects of nanofluid properties and fin configuration on the friction coefficient, Nu number and thermal performance. The effects of Al2O3 nanoparticles at the volume concentration of 1–2% were considered for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian turbulent flow in the annulus side with an insulated outer surface and constant heat flux inner tube. A numerical analysis is conducted for different values of Re numbers of 5000–100,000, fin heights (1, 2 and 3 mm) and fin pitches (80, 160 and 320 mm). The results showed that the use of circular fin increases the heat transfer 36% and 30% for Newtonian and non-Newtonian nanofluid, respectively. The Nu number was increased by enhancing Al2O3 volume concentration and Re number. A thermal performance evaluation was carried out to study the conflict between heat transfer and pressure drop. Although the simultaneous use of the fins and nanoparticles improves the thermal behavior of Newtonian fluid but decreases the thermal performance for non-Newtonian fluid due to a penalty in pressure drop. Therefore, in this research adding nanoparticles to non-Newtonian fluid is suggested without any inserts in the annulus.

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Abbreviations

C 2 :

Model constant

\(C_{\text{p}}\) :

Specific heat, J kg−1 K−1

C μ :

Model parameter

D :

Tube diameter, m

D h :

Hydraulic diameter, m

f :

Darcy–Weisbach friction factor

h :

Fin height, m

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy, m2 s−2

K :

Consistency index, kg sn−2 m−1

L :

Pipe length, m

n :

Behavior index

Nu:

Nusselt number

p :

Pressure, Pa

Pc:

Peclet number

Pr:

Prandtl number

q :

Heat flux, W m−2

\(r^{*}\) :

Radios ratio

Re:

Reynolds number

S :

Fin pitch, m

t :

Fin thickness, m

T :

Temperature, K

u :

Velocity component in flow direction, m s−1

uʹ:

Root-mean-square turbulent velocity fluctuation, m s−1

x, y, z :

Cartesian coordinates

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamic

CMC:

Carboxymethyl cellulose

DPHE:

Double-pipe heat exchanger

Δ:

Difference operator

δ ii :

Dirac delta function

ε :

Turbulent dissipation rate, m2 s−3

η :

Thermal performance

\(\eta^{\prime}\) :

Apparent viscosity

θ :

Angular coordinate

λ :

Thermal conductivity, W m−1 K−1

μ :

Dynamic viscosity, kg ms−1

ρ :

Density, kg m−3

\(\sigma_{\uptau}\) :

Turbulent Prandtl number in energy equation

\(\sigma_{\text{k}}\) :

Diffusion Prandtl number for k

\(\sigma_{\upvarepsilon}\) :

Diffusion Prandtl number for ε

ϕ :

Nanoparticles volume concentration

b:

Bulk quantity

bf:

Base fluid

i:

Inner or inlet

i, j, k:

General spatial indices

nf:

Nanofluid

o:

Outer or outlet

S:

Smooth

T:

Turbulent quantity

w:

wall

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Shahin Shahr, Iran

    Seyed Shahab Mozafarie

  2. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

    Kourosh Javaherdeh & Omid Ghanbari

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  1. Seyed Shahab Mozafarie
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  2. Kourosh Javaherdeh
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  3. Omid Ghanbari
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Correspondence to Kourosh Javaherdeh.

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Mozafarie, S.S., Javaherdeh, K. & Ghanbari, O. Numerical simulation of nanofluid turbulent flow in a double-pipe heat exchanger equipped with circular fins. J Therm Anal Calorim 143, 4299–4311 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-020-09364-w

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