Experimental investigation of TiO2/water nanofluid laminar forced convective heat transfer through helical coiled tube

Coiled tubes and nanofludics are two significant techniques to enhance the heat transfer ability of thermal equipments. The forced convective heat transfer and the pressure drop of nanofluid inside straight tube and helical coiled one with a constant wall heat flux were studied experimentally. Distilled water was used as a host fluid and Nanofluids of aqueous TiO₂ nanoparticles (50 nm) suspensions were prepared in various volume concentrations of 0.25–2 %. The heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids is obtained for different nanoparticle concentrations as well as various Reynolds numbers. The experiments covered a range of Reynolds number of 500–4,500. The results show the considerable enhancement of heat transfer rate, which is due to the nanoparticles present in the fluid. Heat transfer coefficient increases by increasing the volume concentration of nanoparticles as well as Reynolds number. Moreover, due to the curvature of the tube when fluid flows inside helical coiled tube instead of straight one, both convective heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop of fluid grow considerably. Also, the thermal performance factors for tested nanofluids are greater than unity and the maximum thermal performance factor of 3.72 is found with the use of 2.0 % volume concentration of nanofluid at Reynolds number of 1,750.     

Experimental characterization of convective heat transfer with MWCNT based nanofluids under laminar flow conditions

This study describes an investigation on the convective heat transfer performance of aqueous suspensions of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The results suggested an increase on heat transfer coefficient of 47 % for 0.5 % volume fraction. Moreover, the enhancement observed during thermal conductivity assessment, cannot fully explain the heat transfer intensification. This could be associated to the random movements among the particles through a fluid, caused by the impact of the base fluid molecules.     

Studies on heat transfer in flow of silver nanofluid through a straight tube with twisted tape inserts

Convective heat transfer in the flow of silver nanofluid through a straight tube with twisted tape inserts was investigated experimentally. This straight tube was used as absorber/receiver tube in parabolic trough collector. The experiments were conducted for Reynolds number range 500 < Re < 6000 with twisted tape inserts of different twist ratio range 0.577 < H/D < 1.732. This experimental study shows that twisted tape inserts enhances heat transfer rate in the tube. The heat transfer coefficient and friction factor in the flow of silver nanofliud with 5 % volume fraction (concentration) are higher compared to the flow of water. From this study, Nusselt number, friction factor and enhancement factor are found as 2.0–3.0 times, 10–48.5 and 135–175 %, respectively with silver nanofliud. Finally new possible correlations for predicting heat transfer and friction factor in the flow of silver nanofliud through the straight tube with twisted tape inserts are proposed.     

Heat transfer and fluid flow analysis of artificially roughened ducts having rib and groove roughness

Artificially roughness is one of the well known methods of enhancing heat transfer from the heat transfer surface in the form of repeated ribs, grooves or combination of ribs and groove (compound turbulators). The artificial roughness produced on the heat transferring surface is used in cooling of gas turbine blades, nuclear reactor, solar air heating systems etc. Solar air heaters have wide applications in low to moderate temperature range, namely, drying of foods, agricultural crops, seasoning of wood and space heating etc. Solar air heaters have low value of convective heat transfer coefficient between the working fluid (air) and the heat transferring surface, due to the formation of thin laminar viscous sub-layer on its surface. The heat transfer from the surface can be increased by breaking this laminar viscous sub layer. Hence, in the present work compound turbulators in the form of integral wedge shaped ribs with grooves are used on the heat transfer surface, to study its effect on the heat transfer coefficient (Nusselt number) and friction factor in the range of Reynolds number 3,000–18,000. The roughness produced on the absorber plate forms the wetted side of upper broad wall of the rectangular duct of solar air heater. The relative groove position (g/p) was varied from 0.4 to 0.8 and the wedge angle (Φ) was varied from 10° to 25°, relative roughness pitch (p/e) and relative roughness height (e/D) was maintained as 8.0 and 0.033 respectively. The aspect ratio of the rectangular duct was maintained as 8. The Nusselt number and friction factor of the artificially roughened ducts were determined experimentally and the corresponding values were compared with that of smooth surface duct. It is observed that wedge-groove roughened surface shows more enhancement in heat transfer compared to only rib roughened surface arrangement. The investigation revealed that Nusselt number increases 1.5–3 times, while the friction factor increases two to three folds that of the smooth surface duct in the range of operating parameters. It is also observed that in rib–groove roughness arrangement with relative groove position of 0.65 shows the maximum enhancement in the heat transfer compared to the other rib-groove roughness arrangements. Statistical correlations for the Nusselt number and friction factor have been developed by the regression method in terms of the operating and roughness parameters. A program was also developed in MATLAB for the calculation of thermal efficiency and thermal effectiveness. It was observed that the thermal efficiency is more for wedge angle of 15° and relative groove position of 0.65 and its value ranges from 42 to 73 %. The uncertainties in the measurements due to various instruments for the Reynolds number, Nusselt number, and friction factor have been estimated as ±3.8, ±4.54 and ±7.6 % respectively in the range of investigation made.     

Nanofluids thermal behavior analysis using a new dispersion model along with single-phase

A numerical study has been performed to analyze nanofluids convective heat transfer. Laminar α-Al₂O₃-water nanofluid flows in an entrance region of a horizontal circular tube with constant surface temperature. Numerical analysis has been carried out using two different single-phase models (homogenous and dispersion) and two-phase models (Eulerian–Lagrangian and mixture). A new model is developed to consider the nanoparticles dispersion. The transport equations for the tube with constant surface temperature were solved numerically using a control volume approach. The effects of nanoparticles volume fraction (0.5, 1 %) and Reynolds number (650 ≤ Re ≤ 2300) on nanofluid convective heat transfer coefficient were studied. The results are compared with the experimental data and it is shown that the homogenous single-phase model is underestimated and the mixture model is overestimated. Although the Eulerian–Lagrangian model gives a reasonable prediction for the thermal behavior of nanofluids, the dispersion single-phase model gives more accurate prediction despite its simplicity.     

Experimental investigation to study flow and heat transfer characteristics over a NACA0018 aerofoil for different height ratios

Experiments are carried out to study flow and heat transfer characteristics over NACA0018 aerofoil when the body approaches the wall of a wind tunnel. Investigations have been done to study the effect of wall proximity due to flow separation around the body at Reynolds number 2.5 × 10⁵, different height ratios and various angles of attack. The static pressure distribution has been measured on upper and lower surfaces of the aerofoil. The results have been presented in the form of pressure coefficient, drag coefficient for different height ratios. Pressure coefficient values are decreased and then increased on the lower surface of the aerofoil and decreased on the upper surface of the aerofoil at all angles of attack. The negative pressure coefficient and drag coefficient decreases as the body approaches the upper wall of wind tunnel. The maximum value of drag coefficient has been observed at an angle of attack 30° for the aerofoil at all height ratios. The Heat transfer experiments have been carried out under constant heat flux condition. Heat transfer coefficients are determined from the measured wall temperature and ambient temperature and presented in the form of Nusselt number. The variation of local as well as average Nusselt number has been shown with non dimensional distance for different angles of attack and for various height ratios. The local as well as average Nusselt number decreases as the height ratio decreases for all non-dimensional distance and angles of attack respectively. Maximum value of average Nusselt number has been observed at an angle of attack 40°.     

Large area impingement spray cooling from multiple normal and inclined spray nozzles

An inclined spray chamber with four multiple nozzles to cool a 1 kW 6U electronic test card has been designed and tested in this study. The multiple inclined sprays can cover the same heated surface area as that with the multiple normal sprays but halve the volume of the spray chamber. The spray cooling system used R134a as a working fluid in a modified refrigeration cycle. It is observed that increasing mass flow rate and pressure drop across the nozzles improved the heat transfer coefficient with a maximum enhancement of 117 %, and reduced the maximum temperature difference at the heated surface from 13.8 to 8.4 °C in the inclined spray chamber with a heat flux of 5.25 W/cm², while the heat transfer coefficient of the normal spray increased with a maximum enhancement of 215 % and the maximum temperature difference decreased from 10.8 to 5.4 °C under similar operating conditions. We conclude that the multiple inclined sprays could produce a higher heat transfer coefficient but with an increase in non-uniformity of the surface temperature compared with the multiple normal sprays.     

Experimental investigation of flow and heat transfer in rectangular cross-sectioned duct with baffles mounted on the bottom surface with different inclination angles

In this study, steady-state forced convection heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in a horizontal rectangular cross-sectioned duct, baffles mounted on the bottom surface with different inclination angles were investigated experimentally in the Reynolds number range from 1 × 10³ to 1 × 10⁴. The study was performed under turbulent flow conditions. Effects of different baffle inclination angles on flow and heat transfer were studied. Results are also presented in terms of thermal enhancement factor. It is observed that increasing in baffle inclination angle enhances the heat transfer and causes an increase in pressure drop in the duct.     

Intensity of convective mass/heat transfer in a rotary regenerator rotor with the transverse needle-fins

A forced convective mass transfer coefficient was electrochemically measured for a cylindrical bundle of transverse needle-fins ?1 × 10.9, applied as the rotor porous matrix of a rotary heat regenerator. The baffle inside the rotor was present. The technique based on the ferricyanide–ferrocyanide redox reaction controlled at the cathode, in the presence of a sodium hydroxide based electrolyte, was used in this experiment. A set of the six neighbouring fins, connected in parallel, was the cathode. The distribution of the mass transfer coefficient according to different static rotor angle position and the mean mass transfer Chilton–Colburn coefficient correlation j _M  = j _M (Re) for rotation numbers, Ro: 0, 0.8, 1.6 and 2.0 were stated in the mean Reynolds number, Re, range 180–985. The comparison was made between the convective heat fluxes of the pin-fins and the sheet rotor, for Ro = 0.     

Investigation of the fluid temperature field inside a flat-plate solar collector

An experimental study was conducted to investigate fluid temperature fields inside a flat-plate solar collector tube. The results show the highest fluid temperature at the upper end of the tube which decreased gradually to the lowest value at the bottom end of the tube, whereas, the temperature field in the horizontal plane is symmetric about the centerline. The vertical temperature gradients vary with the axial distance. The local fluid temperature increased nonlinearly along the collector length and its magnitude decreased with an increase in the Reynolds number. The local Rayleigh number increased with the axial distance and at a given location, its magnitude increased with a decrease in the Reynolds number, whereas, the local Nusselt number trends in flat-plate collector tube are in general similar to that in the conventional laminar channel flows. The local fluid temperature increased with an increase in the incident heat flux at a given collector orientation but decreased for the inclined collectors. The results show that over the given Reynolds number range, the fluid in a flat-plate collector tube is stably stratified over most of the fluid cross-sectional domain and the convective currents are suppressed and restricted to a thin layer adjacent to the lower tube wall. The results from the present study provide the physical explanation for the heat transfer enhancement by insert devices. That is, the insert devices disrupt the stably stratified layer and induce mixing which enhances the heat transfer.     

Experimental studies on heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of CuO/water nanofluid under turbulent flow in a helically dimpled tube

An experimental investigation on the convective heat transfer and friction factor characteristics in the plain and helically dimpled tube under turbulent flow with constant heat flux is presented in this work using CuO/water nanofluid as working fluid. The effects of the dimples and nanofluid on the Nusselt number and the friction factor are determined in a circular tube with a fully developed turbulent flow for the Reynolds number in the range between 2500 and 6000. The height of the dimple/protrusion was 0.6 mm. The effect of the inclusion of nanoparticles on heat transfer enhancement, thermal conductivity, viscosity, and pressure loss in the turbulent flow region were investigated. The experiments were performed using helically dimpled tube with CuO/water nanofluid having 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% volume concentrations of nanoparticles as working fluid. The experimental results reveal that the use of nanofluids in a helically dimpled tube increases the heat transfer rate with negligible increase in friction factor compared to plain tube. The experimental results showed that the Nusselt number with dimpled tube and nanofluids under turbulent flow is about 19%, 27% and 39% (for 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% volume concentrations respectively) higher than the Nusselt number obtained with plain tube and water. The experimental results of isothermal pressure drop for turbulent flow showed that the dimpled tube friction factors were about 2-10% higher than the plain tube. The empirical correlations developed for Nusselt number and friction factor in terms of Reynolds number, pitch ratio and volume concentration fits with the experimental data within ±15%.     

Heat transfer from a flat surface to an inclined impinging jet

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effect of the inclination jet on convection heat transfer to horizontal flat plate. Local heat transfer determined as a function is of three parameters including inclination angle of the air jet relative to the plate in range of 90° ≤ θ ≤ 45°, jet-to-plate spacing in range of 2 ≤ L/D ≤ 8 and Reynolds number in range of 1,500 ≤ Re ≤ 30,000. The results show that the maximum heat transfer point moves towards the uphill side of the plate and the maximum heat transfer decreases as the inclination angle decreases. The correlations were conducted to predict maximum and local Nusselt number as a function of Re, θ, L/D, and x/D for a specific three regions.     

Experimental study on forced convective heat transfer of flowing gaseous solid suspension at high temperature

The results of an experimental study of the forced convective heat transfer to helium-graphite suspension at high temperatures up to 1173K are presented. Entering gas Reynolds number ranges from 1.0 x 10⁴ to 2.0 x 10⁴ and the particle loading ratio reaches about 4. The ratio of the Nusselt number of the suspension to that of gas alone increases considerably in a range of high loading ratios as the wall temperature increases. Subsequently, two kinds of turbulence promoters (200 and 400 mm pitch twisted tapes) are inserted in the flowing gaseous solid suspensions to make use of the large inertia forces of particles. The current results show that the local heat fluxes with use of the tapes increase significantly with the rise in the wall temperature owing to the radiative effect of the particulate phase.     

Experimental and numerical investigations on slot air jet impingement cooling of a heated cylindrical concave surface

Experimental and numerical studies have been carried out for slot air jet impingement on a heated concave surface of a partially opened-top horizontal cylinder of length L = 20 cm. The slot jet is situated at the symmetry line of the partially opened-top cylinder along the gravity vector and impinges to the bottom of the cylinder which is designated as θ = 0°. The width of the opening at the top of the horizontal cylinder is W = 3 cm which corresponds to a circumferential angle Δθ = 50.8°. The experiments are performed by a Mach–Zehnder interferometer which enables to measure the local convection heat transfer coefficient. Also, a finite volume method based on the SIMPLE algorithm and non-orthogonal grid discretization scheme is used to solve the continuity, momentum, and energy equations. The Poisson equations are solved for (x, y) to find the grid points which are distributed in a non-uniform manner with higher concentration close to the solid regions. The effects of jet Reynolds number (Re _j) in the range from 190 to 1,600 and the ratio of spacing between nozzle and cylinder surface to the jet width from H = 1.5 to H = 10.7 on the local and average Nusselt numbers are examined. It is observed that maximum Nusselt number occurs at the stagnation point at (θ = 0°) and the local heat transfer coefficient decreases on the circumferential surface of the cylinder with increase of θ as a result of thermal boundary layer thickness growth. Also results show that the local and average heat transfer coefficients are raised by increasing the jet Reynolds number and by decreasing the nozzle-to-surface spacing.     

Heat transfer augmentation of a car radiator using nanofluids

The car radiator heat transfer enhancement by using TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanoparticles dispersed in water as a base fluid was studied experimentally. The test rig is setup as a car radiator with tubes and container. The range of Reynolds number and volume fraction are (250–1,750) and (1.0–2.5 %) respectively. Results showed that the heat transfer increases with increasing of nanofluid volume fraction. The experimental data is agreed with other investigator.     

Turbulent forced convection heat transfer of non-Newtonian nanofluids

Forced convection heat transfer of non-Newtonian nanofluids in a circular tube with constant wall temperature under turbulent flow conditions was investigated experimentally. Three types of nanofluids were prepared by dispersing homogeneously γ-Al₂O₃, TiO₂ and CuO nanoparticles into the base fluid. An aqueous solution of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was used as the base fluid. Nanofluids as well as the base fluid show shear-thinning (pseudoplastic) rheological behavior. Results indicate that the convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids is higher than that of the base fluid. The enhancement of the convective heat transfer coefficient increases with an increase in the Peclet number and the nanoparticle concentration. The increase in the convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids is greater than the increase that would be observed considering strictly the increase in the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids. Experimental data were compared to heat transfer coefficients predicted using available correlations for purely viscous non-Newtonian fluids. Results show poor agreement between experimental and predicted values. New correlation was proposed to predict successfully Nusselt numbers of non-Newtonian nanofluids as a function of Reynolds and Prandtl numbers.     

Heat transfer characteristics of pulsated turbulent pipe flow

Heat Transfer characteristics of pulsated turbulent pipe flow under different conditions of pulsation frequency, amplitude and Reynolds number were experimentally investigated. The pipe wall was kept at uniform heat flux. Reynolds number was varied from 5000 to 29 000 while frequency of pulsation ranged from 1 to 8 Hz. The results show an enhancement in the local Nusselt number at the entrance region. The rate of enhancement decreased as Re increased. Reduction of heat transfer coefficient was observed at higher frequencies and the effect of pulsation is found to be significant at high Reynolds number. It can be concluded that the effect of pulsation on the mean Nusselt numbers is insignificant at low values of Reynolds number. Received on 29 June 1998     

Effect on the flow and heat transfer characteristics for sinusoidal pulsating laminar flow in a heated square cylinder

Two-dimensional numerical simulation is performed to understand the effect of flow pulsation on the flow and heat transfer from a heated square cylinder at Re = 100. Numerical calculations are carried out by using a finite volume method based on the pressure-implicit with splitting of operators algorithm in a collocated grid. The effects of flow pulsation amplitude (0.2 ≤ A ≤ 0.8) and frequency (0 ≤ f _p  ≤ 20 Hz) on the detailed kinematics of flow (streamlines, vorticity patterns), the macroscopic parameters (drag coefficient, vortex shedding frequency) and heat transfer enhancement are presented in detail. The Strouhal number of vortices shedding, drag coefficient for non-pulsating flow are compared with the previously published data, and good agreement is found. The lock-on phenomenon is observed for a square cylinder in the present flow pulsation. When the pulsating frequency is within the lock-on regime, time averaged drag coefficient and heat transfer from the square cylinder is substantially augmented, and when the pulsating frequency in about the natural vortex shedding frequency, the heat transfer is also substantially enhanced. In addition, the influence of the pulsating amplitude on the time averaged drag coefficient, heat transfer enhancement and lock-on occurrence is discussed in detail.     

The effect of carbon nanotubes in enhancing the thermal transport properties of PCM during solidification

This study is aimed to prepare a novel class of nanofluid phase change material (NFPCM) by dispersing a small amount of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in liquid paraffin, to enhance the heat transfer properties and examine the characteristics of the NFPCM during the solidification process. The stable NFPCMs are prepared by dispersing the MWCNT in liquid paraffin at 30°C with volume fractions of 0.15, 0.3, 0.45 and 0.6% without any dispersing agents. The rheology measurement illustrates the Newtonian fluid behavior in the shear stress range of 1–10?Pa. The differential scanning calorimetric results showed that there is no observable variation in the freezing/melting temperature of the NFPCM, and only a small observable change in the latent heat values. The thermal conductivity of various NFPCM is measured. The enhancement in thermal conductivity increases with the increased volume fraction of the MWCNT, and shows a weak dependence on the temperature. Further, for the NFPCM with a volume fraction of 0.6%, there is an appreciable increase in heat transfer with a reduction in the solidification time of 33.64%. The enhancement in the heat transfer performance would alleviate the major problems that have been encountered in the conventional phase change materials since several years.     

Inverse determination of the heat transfer characteristics on a circular plane fin in a finned-tube bundle

In this work, we present the numerical results of the average heat transfer coefficients, $ \overline{{h_{\varphi } }} $ , over a circular plane fin in a finned-tube bundle for both aligned and staggered arrangements as well as the fin efficiency and the heat flux dissipated from the whole fin. The study covers a wide range of Reynolds number (2 × 10³–3 × 10⁴), for three different positions of the finned tube inside the heat exchanger. The temperature distribution on the fins surfaces was obtained experimentally using infrared thermography technique. The predicted values of the heat transfer coefficient were obtained numerically using the finite element method in conjunction with the conjugate gradient algorithm and the measured temperatures.