Numerical Simulation of Laminar Convective Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Water Based-Al2O3 Nanofluid as A Non Newtonian Fluid by Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD)
Mohammad Illbeigi 1
Alireza Solaimany Nazar 2
1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Arak University, Arak, Iran
2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
The convective heat transfer and pressure drop of water based Al2O3 nanofluid in a horizontal tube subject to constant wall temperature condition is investigated by computational fluid dynamic (CFD) method. The Al2O3 nanofluid at five volume concentration of 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2 % are applied as a non Newtonian power law and Newtonian fluid with experimentally measured properties of density, viscosity, thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity. The power law fluid determines the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop better than that of the Newtonian fluid. The experimentally measured viscosity is used as consistency index and the flow behavior index (n) is computed in various Reynolds number and nanoparticle concentrations in order to minimize the difference between the experimental and computational results. It is revealed that n is a function of nanoparticle concentration and independent of nanofluid velocity and Al2O3 nanofluid behaves as a shear thickening fluid for n>1. Both the experimental and computational results show an increase in the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop with an increase in the nanofluid concentration. By using the experimental data a correlation for the average Nusselt number estimation based on the dimensionless number (Re and Pr) and nanoparticles concentration (φ) is obtained. The results of this correlation introduce a 1.162 % average absolute deviation.
Convective Heat Transfer
Power Law Fluid
Laminar Flow
numerical simulation
[1] Wen D, Ding Y. Experimental investigation into convective heat transfer of nanofluids at the entrance region under laminar flow conditions. International journal of heat and mass transfer. 2004 Nov 30;47(24):5181-8.
[2] Rea U, McKrell T, Hu LW, Buongiorno J. Laminar convective heat transfer and viscous pressure loss of alumina–water and zirconia–water nanofluids.International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer.2009 Mar 31;52(7):2042-8.
[3] Heris SZ , Etemad SG , Esfahany MN. Convective he at transfer of a Cu/water nanofluid flowing through a circular tube. Experimental heat transfer. 2009 Sep 30;22(4):217-27.
[4] Hwang KS, Jang SP, Choi SU. Flow and convective heat transfer characteristics of water-based Al2O3 nanofluids in fully developed laminar flow regime. International journal of heat and mass transfer. 2009 Jan 15;52(1):193-9.
[5] Heris SZ, Etemad SG, Esfahany MN. Experimental investigation of oxide nanofluids laminar flow convective heat transfer. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer. 2006 Apr 30;33(4):529-35.
[6] Pak BC, Cho YI. Hydrodynamic and heat transfer study of dispersed fluids with submicron metallic oxide particles. Experimental Heat Transfer an International Journal. 1998 Apr 1;11(2):151-70.
[7] Li Q, Xuan Y, Wang J. Investigation on convective heat transfer and flow features of nanofluids. Journal of Heat transfer. 2003;125(2003):151-5.
[9] Heyhat MM, Kowsary F. Effect of particle migration on flow and convective heat transfer of nanofluids flowing through a circular pipe. Journal of Heat Transfer. 2010 Jun 1;132(6):062401.
[10] Ding Y, Alias H, Wen D, Williams RA. Heat transfer of aqueous suspensions of carbon nanotubes (CNTnanofluids). International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2006 Jan 31;49(1):240-50.
[11] Williams W, Buongiorno J, Hu LW. Experimental investigation of turbulent convective heat transfer and pressure loss of alumina/water and zirconia/water nanoparticle colloids (nanofluids) in horizontal tubes. Journal of Heat Transfer. 2008 Apr1;130(4):042412.
[12] Chun BH, Kang HU, Kim SH. Effect of alumina nanoparticles in the fluid on heat transfer in doublepipe heat exchanger system. Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering. 2008 Sep 1;25(5):966-71.
[13] Zamzamian A, Oskouie SN, Doosthoseini A, Joneidi A, Pazouki M. Experimental investigation of forced convective heat transfer coefficient in nanofluids of Al2O3/EG and CuO/EG in a double pipe and plate heat exchangers under turbulent flow. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science. 2011 Apr 30;35(3):495-502.
[14] Xie H, Li Y, Yu W. Intriguingly high convective heat transfer enhancement of nanofluid coolants in laminar flows. Physics Letters A. 2010 May31;374(25):2566-8.
[15] Heyhat MM, Kowsary F, Rashidi AM, Momenpour MH, Amrollahi A. Experimental investigation of laminar convective heat transfer and pressure drop of water-based Al2O3 nanofluids in fully developed flow regime. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science. 2013 Jan 31;44:483-9.
Illbeigi, M., & Solaimany Nazar, A. (2017). Numerical Simulation of Laminar Convective Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Water Based-Al2O3 Nanofluid as A Non Newtonian Fluid by Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD). Challenges in Nano and Micro Scale Science and Technology, 5(2), 130-138. doi: 10.7508/tpnms.2017.02.006
Mohammad Illbeigi; Alireza Solaimany Nazar. "Numerical Simulation of Laminar Convective Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Water Based-Al2O3 Nanofluid as A Non Newtonian Fluid by Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD)". Challenges in Nano and Micro Scale Science and Technology, 5, 2, 2017, 130-138. doi: 10.7508/tpnms.2017.02.006
Illbeigi, M., Solaimany Nazar, A. (2017). 'Numerical Simulation of Laminar Convective Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Water Based-Al2O3 Nanofluid as A Non Newtonian Fluid by Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD)', Challenges in Nano and Micro Scale Science and Technology, 5(2), pp. 130-138. doi: 10.7508/tpnms.2017.02.006
Illbeigi, M., Solaimany Nazar, A. Numerical Simulation of Laminar Convective Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Water Based-Al2O3 Nanofluid as A Non Newtonian Fluid by Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD). Challenges in Nano and Micro Scale Science and Technology, 2017; 5(2): 130-138. doi: 10.7508/tpnms.2017.02.006