Convective Heat Transfer Enhancement With Nanofluids: The Effect of Temperature-Variable Thermal Conductivity

Author(s):  
Sezer O¨zerinc¸ ◽  
Almıla G. Yazıcıog˘lu ◽  
Sadık Kakac¸

A nanofluid is defined as the suspension of nanoparticles in a base liquid. Studies in the last decade have shown that significant amount of thermal conductivity and heat transfer enhancement can be obtained by using nanofluids. In the first part of this study, classical forced convection heat transfer correlations developed for pure fluids are used to predict the experimental values of heat transfer enhancement of nanofluids. It is seen that the experimental values of heat transfer enhancement exceed the enhancement predictions of the classical correlations. On the other hand, a recent correlation based on the thermal dispersion phenomenon created by the random motion of nanoparticles predicts the experimental data well. In the second part of the study, in order to further examine the validity of the thermal dispersion approach, a numerical analysis of forced convection heat transfer of Al2O3/water nanofluid inside a circular tube in the laminar flow regime is performed by utilizing single phase assumption. A thermal dispersion model is applied to the problem and variation of thermal conductivity with temperature and variation of thermal dispersion with local axial velocity are taken into account. The agreement of the numerical results with experimental data might be considered as an indication of the validity of the approach.

Author(s):  
Aditya Kuchibhotla ◽  
Debjyoti Banerjee

Stable homogeneous colloidal suspensions of nanoparticles in a liquid solvents are termed as nanofluids. In this review the results for the forced convection heat transfer of nanofluids are gleaned from the literature reports. This study attempts to evaluate the experimental data in the literature for the efficacy of employing nanofluids as heat transfer fluids (HTF) and for Thermal Energy Storage (TES). The efficacy of nanofluids for improving the performance of compact heat exchangers were also explored. In addition to thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity the rheological behavior of nanofluids also play a significant role for various applications. The material properties of nanofluids are highly sensitive to small variations in synthesis protocols. Hence the scope of this review encompassed various sub-topics including: synthesis protocols for nanofluids, materials characterization, thermo-physical properties (thermal conductivity, viscosity, specific heat capacity), pressure drop and heat transfer coefficients under forced convection conditions. The measured values of heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluids varies with testing configuration i.e. flow regime, boundary condition and geometry. Furthermore, a review of the reported results on the effects of particle concentration, size, temperature is presented in this study. A brief discussion on the pros and cons of various models in the literature is also performed — especially pertaining to the reports on the anomalous enhancement in heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids. Furthermore, the experimental data in the literature indicate that the enhancement observed in heat transfer coefficient is incongruous compared to the level of thermal conductivity enhancement obtained in these studies. Plausible explanations for this incongruous behavior is explored in this review. A brief discussion on the applicability of conventional single phase convection correlations based on Newtonian rheological models for predicting the heat transfer characteristics of the nanofluids is also explored in this review (especially considering that nanofluids often display non-Newtonian rheology). Validity of various correlations reported in the literature that were developed from experiments, is also explored in this review. These comparisons were performed as a function of various parameters, such as, for the same mass flow rate, Reynolds number, mass averaged velocity and pumping power.


Author(s):  
Emad Y. Tanbour ◽  
Ramin K. Rahmani

Enhancement of the natural and forced convection heat transfer has been the subject of numerous academic and industrial studies. Air blenders, mechanical agitators, and static mixers have been developed to increase the forced convection heat transfer rate in compressible and incompressible flows. Stationary inserts can be efficiently employed as heat transfer enhancement devices in the natural convection systems. Generally, a stationary heat transfer enhancement insert consists of a number of equal motionless segments, placed inside of a pipe in order to control flowing fluid streams. These devices have low maintenance and operating costs, low space requirements and no moving parts. A range of designs exists for a wide range of specific applications. The shape of the elements determines the character of the fluid motion and thus determines thermal effectiveness of the insert. There are several key parameters that may be considered in the design procedure of a heat transfer enhancement insert, which lead to significant differences in the performance of various designs. An ideal insert, for natural conventional heat transfer in compressible flow applications, provides a higher rate of heat transfer and a thermally homogenous fluid with minimized pressure drop and required space. To choose an insert for a given application or in order to design a new insert, besides experimentation, it is possible to use Computational Fluid Dynamics to study the insert performance. This paper presents the outcomes of the numerical studies on industrial stationary heat transfer enhancement inserts and illustrates how a heat transfer enhancement insert can improve the heat transfer in buoyancy driven compressible flows. Using different measuring tools, thermal performance of two different inserts (twisted and helix) are studied. It is shown that the helix design leads to a higher rate of heat transfer, while causes a lower pressure drop in the flowfield, suggesting the insert effectiveness is higher for the helix design, compared to a twisted plate.


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