An ex perimental and numerical investigations of heat transfer enhancement for CuO-water nano fluid in turbulent flow conditions

Abstract EN

In this paper, both experimental and numerical studies were performed in a fully developed turbulent region heat transfer of the CuO-water nanofluid in a horizontal 0.019m diameter, 1.5m long copper tube that subjected to a uniform heat flux at its outer surface.

An experimental investigation was done to evaluate the heat transfer characteristics, friction factor and the pressure drop of the CuO-water nanofluid are conducted in the particle volume concentration range of 0.01% < φ < 2%, and Reynolds number range of 5020< Re < 19985.

The thermal conductivity, specific heat, density and viscosity of the nanofluids were measured.

In numerical study, the finite volume method using Ansys R.15, standard κ – ε turbulence model employed to solve the continuity, momentum, energy and turbulence equations in three-dimensional domains.

The experimental and numerical results showing that the data were satisfied within a 1.7% maximum difference.

The effects of the nanoparticle concentration with uniform heat flux on the enhancement of the heat transfer turbulent flow condition were presented.

The Nusselt number (Nu) of the CuO-water nanofluid case was higher than that the base fluid by approximately 48.7%.

However, the increase in the pressure drop ranged is about 18%.

Finally, the results reveals that the CuOwater nanofluids could be considered as a good and alternative conventional working fluid in heat transfer applications.