Review of nanofluids for heat transfer applications

Research on nanofluids has progressed rapidly since its enhanced thermal conductivity was first repotted about a decade ago,though much controversy and inconsistency have been reported,and insufficient understanding of the formulation and mechanism of nanofluids further limits their applications.This work presents a critical review of research on heat transfer applications of nanofluids with the aim of identifying the limiting factors so as to push forward their further development.     

Non-linear heat transfer of solids in orthogonal coordinate systems

Solutions to the non-linear partial differential equation of heat conduction, (Poisson type), are obtained in which the conductivity is temperature dependent, by solving a linear partial differential equation and transforming it to the non-linear form using the Kirchhoff transformation. The method applies to any orthogonal coordinate system.

Transformations for handling boundary conditions of the Dirichlet, Neumann, convection and non-zero type are developed. The method is extended to solve a special class of non-linear unsteady-state conduction problems.

Two non-linear examples are solved to illustrate the method.     

Formulation of nanofluids for natural convective heat transfer applications

The paper is concerned about formulation of aqueous based nanofluids and its application under natural convective heat transfer conditions. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles are dispersed in distilled water through electrostatic stabilization mechanisms and with the aid of a high shear mixing homogenizer. Nanofluids formulated in such a way are found very stable and are used to investigate their heat transfer behaviour under the natural convection conditions. The preliminary results are presented in this paper. Both transient and steady heat transfer coefficients are measured and the results show a systematic decrease in the natural convective heat transfer coefficient with increasing particle concentration. This is in contradiction to the initial expectation. Possible reasons for the observations are discussed.     

Singular integral transforms for heat transfer problems in semi-infinite solids with coatings

This paper is devoted to singular integral transform method for non-stationary one-dimensional heat transfer problems in semi-infinite solids. Different geometries (semi-space, cylindrical channel and spherical cavity) are studied, and resulting temperature fields are compared. Special attention is given to multi-layer surfacing of solid as a means of heat defense. Kernel splitting method for these problems with non-stationary heat exchange conditions on free boundary is developed.     

Implementation of direct curve matching methods for transient matrix heat transfer testing

A method is described which permits in the entire practical N _tu-range the numerical reduction of transient matrix heat transfer test data resulting from single blow experiments. Two particular cases are analyzed in detail: (1) the idealized case where the upstream fluid temperature follows a step change, and (2) the more realistic case where the upstream fluid temperature follows a decreasing exponential function, which is an acceptable assumption whenever a fast response electrical heater is employed to produce the upstream fluid temperature change. Discrete direct curve matching as formulated in this paper consists of minimizing a suitable distance function defined on discrete sets of data points. In an appendix to the present paper, the implementation of a direct curve matching method is presented for the more general case of an “arbitrary” upstream fluid temperature change.     

Effects of heat flux,mass flux,vapor quality,and saturation temperature on flow boiling heat transfer in microchannels

Flow boiling heat transfer with the refrigerants R-134a and R-245fa in copper microchannel cold plate evaporators is investigated. Arrays of microchannels of hydraulic diameter 1.09 and 0.54 mm are considered. The aspect ratio of the rectangular cross section of the channels in both test sections is 2.5. The heat transfer coefficient is measured as a function of local thermodynamic vapor quality in the range −0.2 to 0.9, at saturation temperatures ranging from 8 to 30 °C, mass flux from 20 to 350 kg m⁻² s⁻¹, and heat flux from 0 to 22 W cm⁻². The heat transfer coefficient is found to vary significantly with heat flux and vapor quality, but only slightly with saturation pressure and mass flux for the range of values investigated. It was found that nucleate boiling dominates the heat transfer. In addition to discussing measurement results, several flow boiling heat transfer correlations are also assessed for applicability to the present experiments.     

A review on transient test techniques for obtaining heat transfer design data of compact heat exchanger surfaces

Accurate and reliable dimensionless heat transfer characteristic is very essential for the analysis of heat exchangers. It is also required for the rating and sizing problems of heat exchangers. One of the important experimental methods used to determine the heat transfer coefficient between the heat transfer surface of the heat exchanger and the flowing fluid is transient test techniques. The transient test techniques are usually employed to establish Colburn factor versus Reynolds number characteristics of a high NTU heat exchanger surfaces like compact or matrix heat exchangers. In those situations, a single-blow test, where only one fluid is used, is employed to conduct the transient test. The transient technique may have the fluid inlet temperature having a step change, periodic or an arbitrary rise/drop. In this paper, various transient test techniques that are used for the determination of heat transfer characteristics of high NTU heat exchanger surfaces are discussed.     

A new method for the biaxial testing of cellular solids

Commercial cellular solids such as metal foams and honeycombs exhibit deformation and failure responses that are dependent on specimen size during testing. For foams, this size dependence originates from the fabrication-induced material and structural inhomogeneities, which cause the uncontrolled localization of deformation during the testing of foam cubes. Different peak loads and failure modes are observed in honeycomb specimens in the plate-shear configuration depending on specimen height. This size dependence causes difficulty in obtaining a more representative constitutive behavior of the material. It has recently been established that the size dependence under uniaxial compression can be eliminated with tapered cellular specimens, which enable controlled deformation at a given region of the specimen. This concept is extended in this paper to the biaxial testing of butterfly-shaped cellular specimens in the Arcan apparatus, which focuses deformation at the central section of the specimen. The Arcan apparatus has been modified such that all displacements at the boundaries of the specimen could be controlled during testing. As a consequence of this fully displacement controlled Arcan apparatus, a force perpendicular to that applied by the standard universal testing machine is generated and becomes significant. Thus, an additional load cell is integrated on the apparatus to measure this load. Example responses of butterfly-shaped specimens composed of aluminum alloy honeycomb, aluminum alloy foam and hybrid stainless-steel assembly are presented to illustrate the capabilities of this new testing method.     

Axisymmetric nuclei of strain and their applications for multilayered solids

In this paper, the effect of several axisymmetric elastic singularities (i.e., point forces, double forces, sum of two double forces and centers of dilatation) on the elastic response of a multilayered solid is investigated. The boundary conditions in an infinite solid at the plane passing through the singularity are derived first using Papkovich–Neuber harmonic functions. Then, a Green’s function solution for multilayered solids is obtained by solving a set of simultaneous linear algebraic equations using both the boundary conditions for the singularity and the layer interfaces. Finally, the elastic solutions in a single layer on an infinite substrate due to point defects and infinitesimal prismatic dislocation loops are presented to illustrate the application of these Green’s function solutions.     

Determination of heat transfer correlations for plate-fin-and-tube heat exchangers

This paper presents a numerical method for determining heat transfer coefficients in cross-flow heat exchangers with extended heat exchange surfaces. Coefficients in the correlations defining heat transfer on the liquid- and air-side were determined using a non-linear regression method. Correlation coefficients were determined from the condition that the sum of squared fluid temperature differences at the heat exchanger outlet, obtained by measurements and those calculated, achieved minimum. Minimum of the sum of the squares was found using the Levenberg-Marquardt method. The outlet temperature of the fluid leaving the heat exchanger was calculated using the mathematical model describing the heat transfer in the heat exchanger. Since the conditions at the liquid-side and those at the air-side are identified simultaneously, the derived correlations are valid in a wide range of flow rate changes of the air and liquid. This is especially important for partial loads of the exchanger, when the heat transfer rate is lower than the nominal load. The correlation for the average heat transfer coefficient on the air-side based on the experimental data was compared with the correlation obtained from numerical simulation of 3D fluid and heat flow, performed by means of the commercially available CFD code. The numerical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

High temperature heat exchanger studies for applications to gas turbines

Growing demand for environmentally friendly aero gas-turbine engines with lower emissions and improved specific fuel consumption can be met by incorporating heat exchangers into gas turbines. Relevant researches in such areas as the design of a heat exchanger matrix, materials selection, manufacturing technology, and optimization by a variety of researchers have been reviewed in this paper. Based on results reported in previous studies, potential heat exchanger designs for an aero gas turbine recuperator, intercooler, and cooling-air cooler are suggested.     

A spectral‐element discontinuous Galerkin thermal lattice Boltzmann method for conjugate heat transfer applications

We present a spectral‐element discontinuous Galerkin thermal lattice Boltzmann method for fluid–solid conjugate heat transfer applications. Using the discrete Boltzmann equation, we propose a numerical scheme for conjugate heat transfer applications on unstructured, non‐uniform grids. We employ a double‐distribution thermal lattice Boltzmann model to resolve flows with variable Prandtl (Pr) number. Based upon its finite element heritage, the spectral‐element discontinuous Galerkin discretization provides an effective means to model and investigate thermal transport in applications with complex geometries. Our solutions are represented by the tensor product basis of the one‐dimensional Legendre–Lagrange interpolation polynomials. A high‐order discretization is employed on body‐conforming hexahedral elements with Gauss–Lobatto–Legendre quadrature nodes. Thermal and hydrodynamic bounce‐back boundary conditions are imposed via the numerical flux formulation that arises because of the discontinuous Galerkin approach. As a result, our scheme does not require tedious extrapolation at the boundaries, which may cause loss of mass conservation. We compare solutions of the proposed scheme with an analytical solution for a solid–solid conjugate heat transfer problem in a 2D annulus and illustrate the capture of temperature continuities across interfaces for conductivity ratio γ > 1. We also investigate the effect of Reynolds (Re) and Grashof (Gr) number on the conjugate heat transfer between a heat‐generating solid and a surrounding fluid. Steady‐state results are presented for Re = 5?40 and Gr = 10⁵?10⁶. In each case, we discuss the effect of Re and Gr on the heat flux (i.e. Nusselt number Nu) at the fluid–solid interface. Our results are validated against previous studies that employ finite‐difference and continuous spectral‐element methods to solve the Navier–Stokes equations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.