Performance Evaluation of Plate Heat Exchanger Using CuO-DI Water Nanofluid

Abstract

Abstract Experimental and numerical investigations have been carried out for performance evaluation of plate heat exchanger (PHE) using CuO-DI water nanofluid at different volume concentrations of (ϕ = 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07) for the Reynolds number, Re = 71–1350, Prandtl number, Pr = 3.18–13.7, and at fixed inlet temperatures of hot and cold fluids Thi = 60 °C and Tci = 20 °C, respectively. The two main influential thermo-physical properties of the nanofluid, namely, dynamic viscosity and thermal conductivity obtained for various volume fractions at different temperatures, are further utilized for performance analysis of the PHEs. The thermo-hydraulic performance of PHE is evaluated based on the J.F. factor. According to experimental and simulated results, volume concentration, ϕ = 0.03 is found to be the optimum concentration of nanofluids. The individual correlations for Nusselt number, friction factor, dynamic viscosity, and thermal conductivity in terms of nanofluid volume fraction are proposed based on the experimental results.