Experimental and Numerical Study of Forced Convection of Water/EG-Al2O3 Nanofluids

This paper presents the results of numerical and experimental studies of forced convection of water/EG-Al2O3 nanofluids through a horizontal stainless steel tube (8 mm inner diameter; 2000 mm length). As a base fluid, distilled water/EG mixture of three volume ratios (90:10, 80:20, and 60:40) is used. Nanoparticle mass concentrations are 0.1%, 1%, and 5%. The tested nanofluids are prepared by use of the two-step method. No dispersant is used to stabilize the suspension. Transition and turbulent flow regimes are tested. The commercial code Ansys Fluent 19.3 is used to conduct numerical simulations. A k-ε turbulence model with an expanded boundary layer function is adopted. A homogeneous nanofluid model is assumed, with thermophysical properties depending on the mean fluid temperature and nanoparticle concentration. The nanofluids are treated as incompressible Newtonian fluids. Both experimental and numerical studies showed an increase in the average Nusselt number with the addition of Al2O3 nanoparticles to each of the water/EG mixtures. However, the experimental results indicated that, at the maximum mass nanoparticle concentration of 5%, the Nusselt number increased by 42%, whereas the numerical simulations showed an increase of only 16% compared with the base fluid. Both experimental studies and numerical simulations show the flow resistance of the nanofluid increases with increasing nanoparticle concentration. Similarly to heat transfer, the numerical calculations predict lower pressure drops than those observed experimentally. For the maximum nanoparticle mass concentration of 5%, the experimental results indicate an increase in nanofluid flow resistance of about 95%, while numerical simulations predict an increase of about 50%, compared to the base liquid. The generalized correlation equations are proposed to calculate the average Nusselt number and the friction factor valid for the turbulent flow of water-based nanofluids and water/EG mixtures with a volumetric water fraction above 60% and a mass concentration of nanoparticles in the range of 0.1% ≤ φm ≤ 5%.