Forced convection heat transfer characteristics of Al2O3 nanofluids in a minichannel - an experimental study

Abstract

In this study, an experimental investigation on the convective heat transfer characteristics of Al2O3 nanofluids flowing through an horizontal minichannel under the laminar and turbulent flow and constant heat flux conditions is performed. Several sample nanofluids were prepared using two base fluids (water and the mixture 80/20 DW/EG vol.%) and several low concentrations of Al2O3 nanoparticles ranging from 0.01 to 0.1 vol%. An existing experimental setup was modified for this study. The measurements were taken for the base fluid and nanofluids at each flow and heating conditions. The results are analyzed in terms of Nu and friction factor (f) in comparison with those of the base fluid. The results demonstrate that the used low concentrations of Al2O3 nanoparticles are not enough to yield any noticeable enhancement in heat transfer of the nanofluid samples. The deviations between the results of the nanofluids and the base fluid are small and within the uncertainty range of the experimental setup.