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International Journal of Thermal Sciences 63 (2013) 31e37

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

International Journal of Thermal Sciences


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijts

Experimental investigation of hydrodynamics and heat transfer characteristics


of g-Al2O3/water under laminar flow inside a horizontal tube
E. Esmaeilzadeh*, H. Almohammadi, Sh. Nasiri Vatan, A.N. Omrani
Heat and Fluid Flow Research Laboratory, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present study, hydrodynamics and heat transfer characteristics of g-Al2O3 nanoparticles inside
Received 22 May 2012 a circular tube in laminar flow with constant heat flux was investigated. For this purpose, g-Al2O3
Received in revised form nanoparticles with 15 nm diameter and distilled water as base fluid were used. The primary objective is
11 June 2012
to evaluate the effect of different volume concentration on convective heat transfer. In addition, the effect
Accepted 5 July 2012
of volume concentration is also studied on friction factor. Increasing the particle volume fraction leads to
Available online 14 August 2012
enhancement of convective heat transfer coefficient. Results revealed that the average heat transfer
coefficient increased 6.8% with 0.5% volume concentration and enhanced 19.1% at 1% volume concen-
Keywords:
Convective heat transfer
tration in comparison with distilled water. More the heat flux is more the heat transfer coefficient is.
g-Al2O3 nanofluids From the results, there is no significant change of friction factor for nanofluids in comparison with base
Pipe laminar flow fluid. A new correlation was proposed based on our experimental observation in order to present a deep
Thermal entrance length insight into the current issue.
Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

1. Introduction of nanofluids in turbulent flow. Li et al. [4,5] also experimentally


studied the convective heat transfer of CuO/water nanofluid inside
Many efforts have been made in the recent years regarding heat a horizontal tube with constant heat flux in both laminar and
management which can be categorized into passive and non- turbulent regimes. Their studies showed that the suspended
passive techniques. Passive techniques are mostly discussed with nanoparticles enhanced the convectional heat transfer perfor-
change of the exchanger properties and structure. One other mance of the base fluid. Also, there is no substantial increase in
passive method is about increase the convective coefficient of the friction factor in comparison with the base fluid. In the final step,
heat transfer fluid. Ahuja [1] dispersed micro/millimeter sized they proposed a new correlation for the nanofluid heat transfer
particles with high thermal conductivity within the working fluids coefficient in both laminar and turbulent regimes. Tsai et al. [6]
which using such large particles leads to corrosion of the pipes, studied the flow of goldeDI water nanofluids through a tube.
large pressure drops and sedimentation. They reported that when using nanofluids the thermal resistance of
In 1995, Choi et al. [2] dispersed nanometer sized particles the heat pipe decreases substantially compared to the base fluid.
within base fluid which they called it nanofluid. Nanofluids have Therefore, they proposed substituting nanofluids instead of
better stability and rheological properties than previous work conventional heat transfer fluids such as water and oils. Wen and
fluids. The development of nanofluids as a new class of heat Ding [7] experimentally investigated the convective heat transfer of
transfer fluids has been the subject of many attentions in recent Al2O3/water nanofluids in laminar flow regime and considerable
years. Pak and Cho [3] investigated the heat transfer performance of enhancement of the convective heat transfer was observed in
Al2O3-g and TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed in water inside a hori- laminar regime. This enhancement rate increases at higher Re
zontal tube. They observed that an increase in Re number and numbers and volume concentrations. They figured out a significant
particle concentration leads to an increase in Nu number, but the enhancement in the inlet region which implies enhancement
convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid with 3% volume levitation by increasing the axial distance. They explained this
fraction decreases by 12% compared to the base fluid. Finally, they enhancement by particle migration which causes a non-uniform
developed a correlation for calculating the heat transfer coefficient distribution of thermal conductivity and viscosity field of the
nanofluid. This procedure leads to the flattening of thermal
boundary layer thickness. Ding et al. [8] found the maximum
* Corresponding author. Tel. þ98 9141160374. convective heat transfer enhancement of CNT nanofluids for Re
E-mail address: esmzadeh@tabrizu.ac.ir (E. Esmaeilzadeh). number of 850 to be 350% compared to base fluid with using the

1290-0729/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.


http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2012.07.001
32 E. Esmaeilzadeh et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 63 (2013) 31e37

Nomenclature x axial distance, m


x* x/D$Re$Pr
A cross-sectional area, m2
Cp specific heat, J/kg K Greek letters
d tube diameter, m 4 volume concentration
f friction factor r density, kg/m3
h heat transfer coefficient, w/m2 K m dynamic viscosity, kg/ms
k thermal conductivity, w/m K
L length of the test section, m Subscripts
m _ mass flow rate, kg/s f fluid
Nu Nusselt number bf base fluid
P perimeter, m nf nanofluid
Pr Prandtl number in inlet
q00 actual heat flux, w/m2 out outlet
Re Reynolds number p particle
T temperature, K w tube wall
v velocity, m/s

same equipment. This rapid augmentation causes by some reasons transfer for 45 nm particle were greater than that of 150 nm
including the enhancement of thermal conductivity, particle re- particles.
arrangement, shear stress abating, flatting of the thermal By taking thermophysical properties of nanofluids greatly
boundary layer thickness caused by the nanoparticles and the very depend on physical properties and type of nanoparticles being used
high aspect ratio of the carbon nanotubes. The convective heat into consideration, there is a widespread need for more studies and
transfer performance of graphite nanofluids in laminar flow experimental correlations for predicting heat transfer properties of
through a circular tube was also studied experimentally by Yang different kinds of nanofluids. As Anoop et al. indicated that “It may
et al. [9] .They concluded that heat transfer coefficient increases in be mentioned that rather than practical usage, this correlation is
laminar flow condition due to the addition of nanoparticles. On the a framework on which future correlations over wider range of
other hand, the results were much less than that obtained by the parameters can be built with greater amount of experimental data”.
correlation based on static thermal conductivity measurements. In the present paper convective heat transfer performance and
Hence, they focused their studies on developing a suitable corre- properties of Al2O3/water nanofluid in laminar flow through
lation for describing the heat transfer properties of the nanofluids. a circular tube with constant heat flux conditions are being
He et al. [10] studied heat transfer behavior of aqueous TiO2/water experimentally studied. Owing to the fact that nanofluids play
nanofluids experimentally through a vertical tube in both laminar important role in enhancement of heat transfer in fluid flows,
and turbulent flow. Their studies showed that for identical Re authors try to draw a thorough portrait of these kind of fluids heat
numbers and particle size, the heat transfer coefficient is enhanced transfer behavior in laminar flow. Lastly, a new correlation devel-
by increasing particle volume fraction in both flow systems. They oped for calculating the Nusselt number. Finally this correlation
also discussed the effects of pressure drop and particle size on was compared with existing correlations for alumina oxide in
convective heat transfer coefficient. The first experimental studies laminar regime.
on flow and heat transfer properties of TiO2/water nanofluids in
double flow heat exchangers were carried out by Duangthongsuk 2. Experimental procedure
and Wongwises [11] in which they found that the nanofluid
convective heat transfer coefficient is enhanced only slightly 2.1. Selection and preparation of the nanofluid
compared to the base fluid with slight pressure drop occurs
compared to the base fluid. Using similar equipment, the same The stability and thermophysical properties of the nanofluid
group [12] studied the effect of various thermophysical models on directly depend on the size, morphology, type and physical prop-
predicting the forced convective heat transfer performance of erties of the nanoparticles being used. Studies show that Al2O3/
nanofluids. Their findings showed that different thermophysical water nanofluids have greater heat transfer capabilities. Therefore,
models have little effect on the calculated heat transfer coefficient Al2O3 nanoparticles will be used here (from TECNAN Company)
of the nanofluid and that the reliability factor and accuracy of the [14]. Table 1 presents the physical properties of the particles.
experimentally obtained heat transfer coefficient is more likely In Fig. 2, TEM image was provided by the research support center
affected by the calibration of the equipment than the thermo- of the University of Alconte, using a JEOL, MOD.JEM2010, and the
physical property model used. Experiments on the developing XRD image was provided by a Bruke D-8 Advance shown in Fig. 1,
region of Al2O3/water nanofluid under constant heat flux were indicates the particle diameter to be in the range of 10e20 nm.
carried out by Anoop et al. [13] to determine the effect of nano- Hence, we consider the average particle size to be 15 nm.
particle size on convective heat transfer. Two different particle sizes Al2O3/water nanofluids with 0.5% and 1% volume fractions were
(45 and 150 nm) in which it was found that the convective heat prepared using distilled water as base fluid. The nanofluids were

Table 1
Physical properties of the Al2O3 nanoparticles.

Chemical formula Color Morphology Crystal phase Specific surface area (SSA) True density Pore volume Average pore size
g-Al2O3 White Spherical Gamma 90e160 m2/g 3.65 g/cc 0.391 cc/g 133.64 
A
E. Esmaeilzadeh et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 63 (2013) 31e37 33

measure wall temperature. Two thermocouples are placed along


the flow line to measure inlet and outlet temperatures. Data was
collected from the thermocouples every 5 s by computer. Two
manometers are used to measure the pressure drops along the test
section. After passing through the test section, the fluid flows
through the riser section in order to ensure continuity. The flow
rate is measured by collecting the fluid in a precise measuring jar
for a specific period of time. After that the fluid enters the cooling
unit which is a counter flow double pipe heat exchanger with a cold
water supply and a pump for cold water circulation to the heat
exchanger. Before the main reservoir, a three way valve is placed for
cleaning the system.

3. Data and processing


Fig. 1. XRD image of the Al2O3 nanoparticles.

3.1. Thermophysical properties of nanofluids


stabilized through a 4 h process of ultrasonication (CD-4820
cleaner with 170 W and 50 Hz) and electromagnetic stirring. No All thermophysical properties of nanofluid are calculated with
surfactants were used and the PH level of the nanofluid remained Equations (1)e(4) which can be found in the literature [3,7,15,16].
constant. Therefore, these two factors have no effect on the heat All properties are calculated using bulk temperatures between inlet
transfer properties of the nanofluid. No sedimentation was and outlet.
observed throughout the testing period.
rnf ¼ ð1  4Þrbf þ 4rp (1)
2.2. Experimental setup      
rCp nf
¼ ð1  4Þ rCp bf þ 4 rCp p (2)
Fig. 3 gives a schematic view of the setup used for measuring
convective heat transfer and pressure drop. The setup consists of mnf ¼ ð1 þ 2:54Þmbf (3)
a pump, calming section, test section, cooling unit, riser section,
secondary and main reservoir. A 3 L glass reservoir covered with "   #
kp þ 2k þ 2 kp  k ð1 þ bÞ 4
3
glass wool is used as the main nanofluid reservoir. The working knf ¼ k   3
(4)
fluid is circulated using a pump (MULTI 5800 SICCE) with kp þ 2k  kp  k ð1 þ bÞ 4
maximum flow rate of 5800 L/h and head of 3.8 m from the main
reservoir. A bypass valve was installed at the pump outlet to ensure
rnf vd
better flow rate control. A calming section is used to dispel any inlet Renf ¼ (5)
mnf
effects and ensure a fully developed laminar flow. Fig. 4 illustrates
that test section consists of a circular copper tube of 7 mm ID,
9.46 mm OD and 1000 mm length. Nickel chrome wire is wound mnf Cpnf
Prnf ¼ (6)
around the test section tube and a glass wool cover is added to knf
avoid any radial heat loss. The two ends of the test section are where b is the ratio of nanolayer thickness to the nanoparticle
connected to the rest of the circulatory system using plastic flanges diameter which is considered to be 0.1 in Equation (4) of this study
to prevent any axial heat transfer. The terminals of the nickel [16].
chrome wire are attached to an AC power supply, Therefore the
heat flux can be adjusted by varying the voltage. Nine SMT-160 3.2. Heat transfer and hydrodynamics calculation
thermocouples are evenly placed along the test section to
According to Equations (7) and (8) the local Nusselt number (Nu)
and heat transfer coefficient (h) are defined by:

hðxÞd
NuðxÞ ¼ (7)
k

q00
hðxÞ ¼   (8)
Tw  Tf
x

where q00
is the heat flux, Tw and Tf are the wall and fluid temper-
atures respectively and x is the axial distance from test section inlet.
Heat flux was calculated from below:

Q
q00 ¼ (9)
pdL
where d is the tube diameter, L the test section length and Q the
heat transfer rate which is obtained by Equation (10).

Q1 þ Q2
Q ¼ (10)
Fig. 2. TEM image of the Al2O3 nanoparticles. 2
34 E. Esmaeilzadeh et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 63 (2013) 31e37

Fig. 3. Schematic view of the experimental setup.

where Q1 is the heat transfer rate from the AC power unit and Q2 is q00
h ¼   (14)
the heat transfer rate measured from the working fluid. Tw  Tf
V2 where T w is the average wall temperature and T f is the average wall
Q1 ¼  Qloss (11)
R bulk temperature of fluid.
where V is the AC power unit voltage, R is the nickel chrome wire The pressure drop can be calculated using Equation (15).
resistance and Qloss is the heat loss. Measurements showed Qloss to
be about 2%e4%: L V2
h ¼ f (15)
D 2g
_ p ðTout  Tin Þ
Q2 ¼ mC (12)
where Tout and Tin are the outlet and inlet temperatures, respec- 4. Results and discussion
tively. Using the principle of conservation of energy, the tempera-
ture profile inside the tube can be described by: 4.1. Validation of data

q00 Px In order to assess the accuracy of the experimental setup, the


Tf ¼ Tin þ (13)
rCp vA Nusselt number obtained from Equation (16) [17,18] has been
compared with experimental data for distilled water at Re ¼ 799.53
Here, r is the fluid density, P is the perimeter around the test
and constant heat flux of q00 ¼ 9000 w/m2. Fig. 5 shows good
tube, A is the fluid cross section area and v is the average fluid
velocity. Therefore, the average convective heat transfer coefficient
can be obtained from Equation (14).

Fig. 5. Comparison between the experimental Nusselt number and Shah equation
Fig. 4. Schematic view of the test section. versus axial distance.
E. Esmaeilzadeh et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 63 (2013) 31e37 35

Fig. 6. Interplay of experimental measurements and analytically obtained friction


factor as a function of Reynolds number.

agreement between the experimental results and those predicted Fig. 8. Convective heat transfer coefficient of Al2O3/water nanofluid along the test
by Shah equation. section for Re ¼ 1300.

8 1=3
>
< 3:303x*  1:00 x*  0:00005
1=3 x
Nux* ¼ 1:302x*  0:50 0:00005  x*  0:0015; x* ¼ (16)
>
:  0:506 41x D$Re$Pr
x* >0:001
4:364 þ 8:68 103 x* e *

The relationship between friction factor and Reynolds number heat transfer coefficient is. Due to mixing effect of particles near the
under constant temperature conditions in laminar flow is given by wall, Brownian motion, particle migration, re-arrangement of the
Equation (17). particles and reduction of boundary layer thickness, the enhance-
ment of convective heat transfer is obtained.
64
f ¼ (17)
Re
4.3. Axial position effect
Fig. 6 depicts the friction factor versus Re number under
ambient condition in laminar flow. As it is shown the experimental Fig. 8 illustrates the variation of convective heat transfer coef-
data had good agreement with Equation (17). ficient along the test tube for 0.5% and 1% volume fraction for
nanofluids and distilled water. In the Re ¼ 1300 and heat flux of
4.2. Convective heat transfer coefficient q00 ¼ 9000 w/m2, the maximum enhancement rate are achieved at
the inlet of test section or at lower x/d ratios. Therefore, in order to
Fig. 7 presents the variation of convective heat transfer coeffi- benefit from more evident effects of particle migration, the nano-
cient versus different Re numbers for nanofluids with 0.5% volume fluid should be utilized at low x/d ratios to attain higher thermal
fraction, 1% volume fraction and distilled water at axial location x/ displacement. The results indicated that nanofluid convective heat
d ¼ 56.86 in the q00 ¼ 9000 w/m2 heat flux. Results reveal that more transfer coefficient for 0.5% volume concentration and 1% volume
the particle concentration is more the enhancement of convective concentration enhanced in the rate of 10% and 24.5%, respectively,
at x/D ¼ 56.86. Based on our observation, higher distances from the
inlet of test section have a say in diminishing the rate of

Fig. 7. Convective heat transfer coefficient of water and nanofluid versus Re numbers Fig. 9. Effect of axial position on convective heat transfer coefficient of distilled water
at x/d ¼ 56.86. and nanofluid.
36 E. Esmaeilzadeh et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 63 (2013) 31e37

Fig. 10. Convective heat transfer coefficient as a function of Re number for various heat Fig. 12. Comparing the correlation and experimental results.
fluxes.

enhancement. This enhancement reduced to 9.8% and 17.8%,


respectively, at x/D ¼ 99.5.
Fig. 9 presents the Reynolds number effect for different x/
d ratios on the convective heat transfer coefficient of the base fluid
and nanofluid for different volume concentration at the
q00 ¼ 9000 w/m2. As shown in this figure, the convective heat
transfer coefficient variation rate decreases at higher Reynolds
numbers for distilled water which is also valid for the nanofluid.

4.4. Heat flux effects

Fig. 10 shows the effect of heat flux on convective heat transfer


coefficient of nanofluid with 0.5% volume concentrations for
various Reynolds numbers. As it is shown, the nanofluid convective
heat transfer coefficient rises with heat flux augmentation. Also this Fig. 13. Nu number correlations for working fluids.
enhancement is more evident for higher Reynolds numbers.
percent. With 15 nm diameter nanoparticles in laminar flow for
4.5. Pressure drop 300 < Re < 2000, the correlation is obtained as below:
h   i
The pressure drop of Al2O3/water nanofluids and distilled water Nux* ¼ 4:36 þ a bðx* Þc 1 þ 4d $eðf $x* Þ x* >0:00262 (18)
were measured in the laminar flow regime under isothermal
ambient condition. The friction factor measurements for base water where a ¼ 0.8437, b ¼ 0.2315, c ¼ 0.4991, d ¼ 0.123 and f ¼ 23.53.
and nanofluids are depicted in the Fig. 11. The discrepancy between Fig. 12 shows the deviation of experimental data and empirical
nanofluids and water friction factor are negligible. correlation which in the range of 11% to þ15%.
Fig. 13 presents a comparison between the correlation of data
sets from Anoop et al. [13] experiments and Equation (18) for
4.6. Empirical correlation for Nu number
a similar range of Reynolds number, Prandtl number and x/d ratios.
With regarding to the fact that the particle sizes in Anoop et al.
An empirical correlation is developed to account for the data
work pertains to 45 nm and 150 nm, this comprehensive correla-
obtained for Al2O3/water nanofluids in volume fraction of 0.5 and 1
tion is not accurate for smaller size of particles. In this study, the
experimental data is not in agreement with the smallest particle
size which is 15 nm. For x* > 0.015, these two correlation are similar
to each other. For the lower amount of x*, the discrepancy between
these two correlation has been observed. Based on Shah equation,
the rate of enhancement in the current study is about 10% which it
seems a reasonable enhancement.

5. Conclusion

Convective heat transfer performance of Al2O3/water nanofluid


in laminar flow through a circular tube were experimentally
studied at the constant heat flux. Results revealed that:

 Al2O3/water nanofluid shows an enhanced heat transfer coef-


Fig. 11. Comparison of friction factor of distilled water and nanofluids. ficient compared to the base fluid.
E. Esmaeilzadeh et al. / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 63 (2013) 31e37 37

 Higher enhancement results from the use of higher volume [6] C.Y. Tsai, H.T. Chien, P.P. Ding, B. Chan, T.Y. Luh, P.H. Chen, Effect of structural
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