Numerical Investigations on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Single Particle and Hybrid Nanofluids in Uniformly Heated Tube

Abstract

In the present study, the heat transfer characteristics, namely, heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number, pressure drop, friction factor and performance evaluation criteria are evaluated for water, Al2O3 and Al2O3/Cu nanofluids. The effects of Reynolds number, volume fraction and composition of nanoparticles in hybrid nanofluid are analyzed for all heat transfer characteristics. The single particle and hybrid nanofluids are flowing through a plain straight tube which is symmetrically heated under uniform heat flux condition. The numerical model is validated for Nusselt number within 7.66% error and friction factor within 8.83% error with corresponding experimental results from the previous literature study. The thermophysical properties of hybrid nanofluid are superior to the single particle nanofluid and water. The heat transfer coefficient, Nusselt number and pressure drop show increasing trend with increase in the Reynolds number and volume fraction. The friction factor shows the parabolic trend, and the performance evaluation criteria shows small variations with change in Reynolds number. However, both friction factor and performance evaluation criteria have increased with increase in the volume fraction. The 2.0% Al2O3/Cu with equal composition of both nanoparticles (50/50%) have presented superior heat transfer characteristics among all working fluids. Further, the heat transfer characteristics of 2.0% Al2O3/Cu hybrid nanofluid are enhanced by changing the nanoparticle compositions. The performance evaluation criteria for 2.0% Al2O3, 2.0% Al2O3/Cu (50/50%), 2.0% Al2O3/Cu (75/25%) and 2.0% Al2O3/Cu (25/75%) are evaluated as 1.08, 1.11, 1.10 and 1.12, respectively.