Convective Heat Transfer of a Cu/Water Nanofluid Flowing Through a Circular Tube

Abstract

Fluids in which nanometer-sized solid particles are suspended are called nanofluids. These fluids can be employed to increase the heat transfer rate in various applications. In this study, the convective heat transfer for Cu/water nanofluid through a circular tube was experimentally investigated. The flow was laminar, and constant wall temperature was used as thermal boundary condition. The Nusselt number of nanofluids for different nanoparticle concentrations, as well as various Peclet numbers, was obtained. Also, the rheological properties of the nanofluid for different volume fractions of nanoparticles were measured and compared with theoretical models. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient is enhanced by increasing the nanoparticle concentrations as well as the Peclet number.

Keywords:

• nanofluid
• laminar flow
• forced convection
• heat transfer enhancement
• constant wall temperature