Effect of Thermophysical Properties Models on the Predicting of Convective Heat Transfer of Nanofluids With Considering Nanoparticles Migration

In order to study the heat transfer behavior of the nanofluids, precise values of thermal and physical properties such as specific heat, viscosity and thermal conductivity of the nanofluids are required. There are a few well-known correlations for predicting the thermal and physical properties of nanofluids which are often cited by researchers to calculate the convective heat transfer behaviors of the nanofluids. Each researcher has used different models of the thermophysical properties in their works. The aim of the present paper is to study the convective heat transfer of nanofluids containing low volume concentration of Al2O3 nanoparticles with a regard to the migration of nanoparticles due to Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis. To do this, a two-component model has been used and a numerical study on laminar flow of alumina-water nanofluid through a constant wall temperature tube has been performed. Two different models have been adopted for predicting the thermophysical properties of nanofluids. All of the properties are assumed to be temperature as well as particle concentration dependent. The effects of these models on the predicted value of the convective heat transfer of nanofluid and the migration of nanoparticles have been discussed in detail.