DEPARTMENT OF THERMAL POWER ENGINEERING

VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Post Graduate Studies
Mysore - 570029
2014-2015

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Seminar entitled Experimental study of nanofluid (SiO2)
forced convection heat transfer in automobile radiator is a presentation done by Mr.
Raju Subedi, in partial fulfilment for the award of Master of Technology in Thermal
Power Engineering of the Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, during
the year 2014 - 2015. The seminar report has been approved as it satisfies the academic
requirements in respect of seminar prescribed for the master of technological degree.

..
Dr. S B Prakash
Head of The Department
Department of Thermal Power Engineering
VTU, PG Centre Mysore

Dr.S.B. Prakash
Course Coordinator
Dept. of Thermal Power Engineering
VTU, PG Centre
Mysore 570029

Dr.H.R.Shivakumar
Special officer
VTU, PG Centre
Mysore - 570029

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the department of Thermal Power
engineering for providing me the opportunity to give seminar regarding the recent
technological developments in thermal power technology. I am very thankful and express
my earnest gratitude and due respect to Dr.SB Prakash, Head of the Department, for his
continuous feedback, extensive guidance regarding many technical issues.
Through this technical seminar, I did not only gain a lot of knowledge but more
importantly, I had a great chance to sharpen skills on reading various research papers. Not
less important than the technical part that I have learnt is the reading habit and time
management. Finally, I am very thankful to every faculties and friends who provide me
enthusiastic support and helping hands directly or indirectly during the preparation of
technical seminar.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATE ..................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................................ii
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ iv
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. iv
CHAPTER 1.1
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1
1.1 EMERGENCE OF NANOFLUIDS .......................................................................... 2
1.2 THERMO PHYSICAL PROPERTIES...................................................................... 4
1.2.1 Thermal Conductivity...................................................................................................... 4
1.2.2 Viscosity .......................................................................................................................... 5

1.3 APPLICATION OF NANOFLUIDS ......................................................................... 5

1.4 NANO FLUIDS FOR AUTOMOBILE RADIATOR .............................................. 6
CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................................ 8
2.1 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP ........................................................................................ 8
2.2 NANOFLUID PROPERTIES EVALUATION ....................................................... 10
2.3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION ................................................................................ 11
3. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 18

iii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Schematic of the Experimental Setup .................................................................. 8
Figure 2: Experimental Setup .............................................................................................. 9
Figure 3: Applied Automobile radiator................................................................................ 9
Figure 4: Comparison between Results obtained in Previous Studied and Present ........... 13
Figure 5: Effects of Reynolds number, nanoparticle volume fraction and fluid inlet ....... 14
Figure 6: Effects of the Reynolds number, nanoparticle volume fraction and fluid inlet
temperature on enhancement in heat transfer when (a) Tin = 430 C (b) Tin = 520 C ........... 17

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Characteristics of automobile radiator.10
Table 2: Thermal Properties of base fluid and nanoparticle..11

iv

SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Nomenclature
Cp

Specific heat (J/kg K)

Peripheral Area

Friction factor

dhy

Hydraulic diameter

Heat Transfer Coefficient(W/m2K)

Thermal Conductivity (W/mK)

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

Nu

Average Nusselt number

Pr

Prandtl Number

Re

Reynolds Number

Temperature

GREEK LETTERS

Density (kg/m3)

Viscosity (kg /ms)

Volume Fraction

SUBSCRIPTS
b

bulk

base fluid

in

input

nf

nanofluid

out

output

particle

water

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A wide variety of industrial processes and automotive system involves the transfer
of heat energy for the efficient working of the process. Throughout any industrial process
facility, heat must be added or removed from one process stream to another and it has
become a major task for industrial necessity .These processes provide a source for energy
recovery and process fluid heating and cooling. The enhancement of heating or cooling in
an industrial process or automotive system may create a saving in energy, reduce process
time, raise thermal rating and lengthen the working life of equipment. The development
of high performance thermal systems for heat transfer enhancement has become popular
nowadays. A number of works has been performed to gain an understanding of the heat
transfer performance for their practical application to heat transfer enhancement. Thus the
advent of high heat flow process has created significant demand for new technologies to
enhance heat transfer.
There are several methods to improve the heat transfer efficiency. Some methods
are utilization of extended surfaces, application of vibration to the heat transfer surfaces,
and usage of micro channels. Heat transfer efficiency can also be improved by increasing
the thermal conductivity of the working fluid. Commonly used heat transfer fluids such as
water, ethylene glycol, and engine oil have relatively low thermal conductivities, when
compared to the thermal conductivity of solids. High thermal conductivity of solids can
be used to increase the thermal conductivity of the fluid by adding some solid particles to
the fluid. The feasibility of the usage of such such suspension of solid particles with sizes
on the order of 2 millimeters or micrometers was previously investigated by several
researchers and the following significant drawbacks were observed. (Das and Choi, 2006)
The particles settle rapidly, forming a layer on the surface and reducing the heat
transfer capacity of the fluid.
If the circulation rate of the fluid is increased, sedimentation is reduced, but the
erosion of the heat transfer devices, pipelines, etcetera increases rapidly
The large size of the particles tends to clog the flow channels, particularly if the
cooling channels are narrow

The pressure drop in the fluid increases considerably.

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Finally, conductivity enhancement based on particle concentration is achieved(i.e.
the greater the particle volume fraction is ,the greater the enhancement- and
greater the problems, as indicated above)
Thus, the route of suspending particles in liquid was a will know but rejected option for
heat transfer applications.
However, the emergence of modern materials technology provided the opportunity to
produce nanometer-sized particles which are quite different from the parent material in
mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties.

1.1 EMERGENCE OF NANOFLUIDS

The situation changed when Choi and Eastman in Argonne National Laboratory
revisited this field with their nanoscale metallic particle and carbon nanotube suspensions
(Choi and Eastman (1995); Eastman et al. (1996)). Choi and Eastman have tried to
suspend various metal and metal oxides nanoparticles in several different fluids (Choi
(1998); Choi et al. (2001); Chon et al. (2005); Chon et al. (2006); Eastman et al. (2001);
Eastman et al. (1999); Eastman et al. (2004)) and their results are promising, however,
many things remain elusive about these suspensions of nano-structured materials, which
have been termednanofluids by Choi and Eastman.
Nanofluid is a new kind of heat transfer medium, containing nanoparticles (1100
nm) which are uniformly and stably distributed in a base fluid. These distributed
nanoparticles, generally a metal or metal oxide greatly enhance the thermal conductivity
of the nanofluid, increases conduction and convection coefficients, allowing for more
heat transfer.
Nanofluids have been considered for applications as advanced heat transfer fluids
for almost two decades. However, due to the wide variety and the complexity of the
nanofluid systems, no agreement has been achieved on the magnitude of potential
benefits of using nanofluids for heat transfer applications. Compared to conventional
solid-liquid suspensions for heat transfer intensifications, nanofluids having properly
dispersed nanoparticles possess the following advantages.
High specific surface area and therefore more heat transfer surface between
particles and fluids.
High dispersion stability with predominant Brownian motion of particles.

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Reduced pumping power as compared to pure liquid to achieve equivalent heat
transfer intensification.
Reduced particle clogging as compared to conventional slurries, thus promoting
system miniaturization.
Adjustable properties, including thermal conductivity and surface wettability, by
varying particle concentrations to suit different applications.
Nano particles have high surface to volume ratio.
Better suspension inside the fluid
Aggregation of nano particle is avoided.
No blocking of pipe
Pressure drop of the fluid is less.
No erosion of conduits
Nano particles have 20 % of atoms near the surface, allowing then to absorb and
transfer heat efficiently.

The first test with nanofluids gave more encouraging features than they were thought to
possess. The four unique features observed are listed below (Das and Choi, 2006).
Abnormal enhancement of thermal conductivity: The most important feature
observed in nanofluids was an abnormal rise in thermal conductivity, far beyond
expectations and much higher than any theory could predict.
Stability: Nanofluids have been reported to be stable over months using a
stabilizing agent.
Small concentration and Newtonian behavior: Large enhancement of
conductivity was achieved with a very small concentration of particles that
completely maintained the Newtonian behavior of the fluid. The rise in viscosity
was nominal; hence, pressure drop was increased only marginally.
Particles size dependence: Unlike the situation with microslurries, the
enhancement of conductivity was found to depend not only on particle
concentration but also on particle size. In general, with decreasing particle size, an
increase in enhancement was observed.

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1.2 THERMO PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Nanofluid particles have great potential to improve the thermal transport
properties compared to conventional particles fluids suspension, millimeter and
micrometer sized particles.
Experimental studies show that thermal conductivity of nanofluids depends on
many factors such as particle volume fraction, particle material, particle size, particle
shape base fluid material, and temperature. Amount and types of additives and the acidity
of the nanofluid were also shown to be effective in the thermal conductivity enhancement.
The transport properties of nanofluid: dynamic thermal conductivity and viscosity are not
only dependent on volume fraction of nanoparticle, also highly dependent on other
parameters such as particle shape, size, mixture combinations and slip mechanisms,
surfactant, etc. Studies showed that the thermal conductivity as well as viscosity both
increases by use of nanofluid compared to base fluid. So far, various theoretical and
experimental studies have been conducted and various correlations have been proposed
for thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of nanofluids.
1.2.1 Thermal Conductivity
The Maxwell model was one of the first models proposed for solid liquid mixture
with relatively large particles. It was based on the solution of heat conduction equation
through a stationary random suspension of spheres. The effective thermal conductivity is
given by

keff

where kp is the thermal conductivity of the particles, keff is the effective thermal
conductivity of nanofluid, kb is the base fluid thermal conductivity and is the volume
fraction of the suspended particles.
The general trend in the experimental data is that the thermal conductivity of
nanofluids increases with decreasing particle size. This trend is theoretically supported by
two mechanisms of thermal conductivity enhancement; Brownian motion of nanoparticles
and liquid layering around nanoparticles (Ozenic et al, 2010).

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1.2.2 Viscosity
Compared with the experimental studies on thermal conductivity of nanofluids,
there are limited rheological studies reported in the literature for viscosity. Different
models of viscosity have been used by researchers to model the effective viscosity of
nanofluid as a function of volume fraction. Einstein (1956) determined the effective
viscosity of a suspension of spherical solids as a function of volume fraction (volume
concentration lower than 5%) using the phenomenological hydrodynamic equations. This
equation is expressed by

eff is the effective viscosity of nanofluid, b

is the base fluid viscosity and is the

volume fraction of the suspended particles.

1.3 APPLICATION OF NANOFLUIDS

Nanofluid is a fluid containing nanometer sized particles, called nano particles. These
fluids are engineered colloidal suspension of nanoparticles in the base fluid. The
nanoparticles used in nanofluids are typically made of metals, oxides, carbides, or carbon
nanotubes. Common base fluids include water, ethylene glycol and oil.
Nanofluids have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications
in heat transfer, including microelectronics, fuel cells, and pharmaceuticals processes, and
hybrid-powered engines, engine cooling/vehicle thermal management, domestic
refrigerator, chiller, heat exchanger, in grinding, machining and in boiler flue gas
temperature reduction. Nano fluids can be categorized into the following specific areas:
Heat transfer nanofluids
Tribological nanofluids
Surfactant and coating nanofluids
Chemical nanofluids
Process/Extraction nanofluids
Environmental(pollution cleaning) nanofluids
Bio- and pharmaceutical-nanofluids
Medical nanofluids(drug delivery and functional tissue cell interaction)

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Nanofluids can be used to cool automobile engines and welding equipment and to
cool high heat flux devices such as high power microwave tubes and high power laser
diode arrays.
The increase in effective thermal conductivity is important in improving in the
heat transfer behavior of fluids. A number of other variables also play key roles. For
example, the heat transfer coefficient for forced convection in tubes depends on many
physical quantities related to the fluid or the geometry of the system through which fluid
is flowing. These quantities include intrinsic properties of the fluid such as its thermal
conductivity, specific heat, density and viscosity along with extrinsic system parameters
such as tube diameter and length and average fluid velocity. Therefore it is essential to
measure the heat transfer performance of nanofluids directly under flow conditions. [1]

1.4 NANO FLUIDS FOR AUTOMOBILE RADIATOR

The radiator is an important accessory of vehicle engine. Normally, it is used as a
cooling system of the engine and generally water is the heat transfer medium. Nowadays,
high prices of energy motivate industries to apply energy saving methods as much as
possible in their facilities. Common heat transfer fluids such as water, ethylene glycol,
and engine oil have limited heat transfer capabilities due to their low heat transfer
properties. In contrast, thermal conductivity of the most metals are up to three times
higher than the fluids. Therefore, it is naturally desirable to combine the two substances to
produce a heat transfer medium that behaves like a fluid, but has the thermal conductivity
of a metal.[2] The term nanofluid is envisioned to describe a fluid in which nanometer
sized particles are suspended in conventional heat transfer fluids. (Pantzali, 2009)[3]
(Naraki M, 2013).[4] investigated the overall heat transfer coefficient of CuO/water
nanofluids under laminar flow regime in a car radiator.
Leong et al. attempted to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of an
automotive car radiator using ethylene glycol based copper nanofluids numerically.
Thermal performance of an automotive car radiator operated with nanofluids has been
compared with a radiator using conventional coolants. They showed that the overall heat
transfer coefficient decreases with increasing inlet temperature of the nanofluid. Vajjha et
al.[5] have numerically studied a three-dimensional laminar flow and heat transfer with
two different nanofluids, Al2O3 and CuO, in the ethylene glycol/water mixture circulating
through the flat tubes of an automobile radiator to evaluate their superiority over the base
fluid. Convective heat transfer coefficient in the developing and developed regions along
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the flat tubes with the nanofluid flow showed considerable improvement over the base
fluid. (Lai, 2006) [6] studied the flow behavior of nanofluids (Al2O3- water; 20 nm) in a
millimeter-sized stainless steel test tube, subjected to constant wall heat flux and a low
Reynolds number (Re< 270). The maximum Nusselt number enhancement of the
nanofluid of 8% at the concentration of 1 vol. % was recorded. (Peyghambarzadeh S. ,
2011) [7] studied forced convection heat transfer in a car radiator using water/ethylene
glycol based nanofluids. They found that about 40% heat transfer enhancement can be
obtained compared to the base fluids. Jung et al. conducted convective heat transfer
experiments for a nanofluid (Al2O3-water) in a rectangular microchannel under laminar
flow conditions. The convective heat transfer coefficient increased by more than 32%
from 1.8 vol. % nanoparticle in the base fluids. The Nusselt number increased with an
increasing Reynolds number in the laminar flow regime (5<Re<300) and a new
convective heat transfer correlation for nanofluids in microchannels was also proposed.
(Peyghambarzadeh, 2012) [8] studied the heat transfer of coolant flow through the
automobile radiators as it is of great importance for the optimization of fuel consumption.
They indicated that increasing the nanoparticle concentration, air velocity, and nanofluid
velocity enhances the overall heat transfer coefficient. (Kim, 2009) [9] investigated the
effect of nanofluids on the performances of convective heat transfer coefficient of a
circular straight tube having laminar and turbulent flow with constant heat flux. Authors
have found that the convective heat transfer coefficient of alumina nanofluids is improved
in comparison to base fluid by 15% and 20% in laminar and turbulent flows, respectively.
(Zamzamian, 2011) [10] investigated experimentally the forced convective heat transfer
coefficient in Al2O3/EG and CuO/EG nanofluids in a double pipe and plate heat
exchangers under turbulent flow. Their findings indicated considerable enhancement in
convective heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluids as compared with the base fluid,
ranging from 2 to 50%. Recently, several studies about nanofluid effect on heat transfer
enhancement have been published. [11-15]
In this paper, forced convection heat transfer coefficients are reported for pure
water and water/SiO2 nano powder mixtures. The test section is made up with a typical
automobile radiator, and the effects of the inlet temperature and nano particle volume
fraction on heat transfer enhancements are examined.

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CHAPTER 2
2.1 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Figure 1 depicts a schematic of the experimental apparatus employed in the study.
The mixture flows in a closed loop consisting of flow lines, two storage tanks, two
heaters, a centrifugal pump, a flow meter, a forced draft fan and a cross flow heat
exchanger (an automobile radiator). For cooling the liquid, a forced fan (Techno Pars
2080 rpm) was used. A flow meter (Technical Group LZM-15Z Type) was used to
control and manipulate the flow rate with the precision of 0.2 l/min. Figure 3 shows the
applied automobile radiator in test set up. The characteristics of radiator are illustrated in
Table 1. The working fluid fills 25% of the storage tank whose total volume is 30 l
(height of 35 cm and diameter of 30 cm). Two K type thermocouples (DLS 1) were
implemented on the flow line to record radiator fluid inlet and outlet temperatures. Also,
four other thermocouples were used for radiator wall temperature measurement. These
thermocouples were installed at the center of the radiator surfaces (both sides). Due to
very small thickness and very high thermal conductivity of the flat tubes, it is reasonable
to equate the inside temperature of the tube with the outside one.

Figure 1: Schematic of the Experimental Setup

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Figure 2: Experimental Setup

Figure 3: Applied Automobile radiator

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The characteristic of automobile radiator are illustrated below in the table.
Table 3: Characteristics of automobile radiator
Type of Fin and tubes

Aluminum

Dimension of the radiator

380*20*382.4 mm

Fin shape

Corrugated

Heat Transfer area

1.25 m2

Side area

4.7 m2

Volume of the fin

1.14 litre

2.2 NANOFLUID PROPERTIES EVALUATION

By assuming that the nanoparticles are well dispersed within the base fluid, i.e. the
particle concentration can be considered uniform throughout the system; the effective
physical properties of the studied mixtures can be evaluated using some classical
formulas as usually used for two phase fluids. These relations have been used to predict
nanofluid physical properties like density, specific heat, viscosity and thermal
conductivity at different temperatures and concentrations.[16] In this paper, the following
correlations were used to calculate these physical properties of nanofluid:

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

In the above equations, the subscripts

p, f and nf refer to the particles, water and

nanofluid respectively.

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The thermal properties of base fluid and SiO2 nanoparticles are listed in the below table.
Table 4: Thermal Properties of base fluid and nanoparticle
Materials

Density
(Kg/m3)

Specific heat
(J/kg0C)

Thermal Conductivity
(W/m0C)

SiO2

2220

745

1.4

Pure water

998

4180

0.6067

Viscosity
(Pa s)

0.0014

To obtain heat transfer coefficient and corresponding Nusselt number, the following
procedure has been performed. According to Newtons cooling law:
(5)
Heat transfer rate can be calculated as follows:
(6)
Regarding the equality of Q in the above equations:
(7)
In equation (7), Nu is average Nusselt number for the whole radiator, m is the
mass flow rate which is the product of density and volume flow rate of fluid, Cp is the
fluid specific heat capacity, and Tin and Tout inlet and outlet temperatures, Tb bulk
temperature which was assumed to be the average values of inlet and outlet temperature
of the fluid moving through the radiator, and Tw tube wall temperature which is the mean
value by two surface thermocouples. In this equation, k is the thermal conductivity of the
fluid and dhy is hydraulic diameter of the tube. It should also be mentioned that all the
physical properties were calculated at fluid bulk temperature. The temperatures measured
by these thermocouples were shown on three digital monitors with the accuracy of 0.010C
and the accuracy of inlet and outlet temperature was estimated to be 0.50C.

2.3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Before conducting systematic experiments on the application of nanofluids in the
radiator, some experimental runs with pure water and water -propyleneglicol were carried
out in order to check the reliability and accuracy of the experimental setup. Comparison
was made between the experimental data and two well-known empirical correlations: one
of them suggested by Gnielinsky and the other developed by Petukhov et al. (Figure 4).

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These two relations are shown in Equations (8) and (11), respectively. In Equation (9), f is
friction factor.

( )

(8)

2300 < Re< 5*10^6, 0.5< Pr < 2000

(9)

( )

(10)

3*10^3 < Re <5*10^6, 0.5 < Pr <2000

(11)

Also, present study was compared with that of Peyghambarzadeh et al. (Figure 4).
All of these results show good agreements. Figure 5 shows the effect of nanoparticle
volume fraction and fluid inlet temperature on Nusselt number. The velocity components
of nanofluid increase as a result of an increase in the energy transport in the fluid with the
increasing the volume fraction. The sensitivity of thermal boundary layer thickness to
volume fraction of nanoparticles is related to the increased thermal conductivity of the
nanofluid. In fact, higher values of thermal conductivity are accompanied by higher
values of thermal diffusivity. The high value of thermal diffusivity causes a drop in the
temperature gradients and accordingly increases the boundary thickness. This increase in
thermal boundary layer thickness reduces the Nusselt number; however, the Nusselt
number is a multiplication of temperature gradient and the thermal conductivity ratio
(Conductivity of the nanofluid to the conductivity of the base fluid).

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Figure 4: Comparison between Results obtained in Previous Studied and Present

Study for Pure Water

(a)
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(b)

(c)
Figure 5: Effects of Reynolds number, nanoparticle volume fraction and fluid inlet
temperature on Nusselt number

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Since the reduction in temperature gradient due to the presence of nanoparticles is
much smaller than thermal conductivity ratio, therefore, an enhancement in Nusselt
number is taking taken place by increasing the volume fraction of nanoparticles.
Therefore, addition of nanoparticles to the coolant has the potential to improve
automotive and heavy-duty engine cooling rates, or equally causes to remove the engine
heat with a reduced-size cooling system. In order to consider the effect of temperature on
thermal performance of the radiator, different fluid inlet temperatures have been applied
for each concentration. The fluid inlet temperatures include 43C, 52C, and 60C for the
water based SiO2 nanofluid. This figure shows that an increase in the fluid inlet
temperature slightly enhances Nusselt number because of augmentation in the effect of
test liquid radiation to the internal wall of the tubes.
Also, this figure shows that Nusselt number increases with increase of Reynolds number.
The enhancement of heat transfer between the case of nanofluid and the pure fluid (base
fluid) case is defined as:

(12)
Effects of the Reynolds number, nanoparticle volume fraction and fluid inlet
temperature on enhancement in heat transfer are shown in Figure 6. As can be seen, the
enhancement in heat transfer has increased by augmentation in the concentrations of
nanoparticle, constant Reynolds number and fluid inlet temperature. For the water based
nanofluid it is obvious that E increases with Reynolds number and in higher
concentrations of nanoparticle the effect of Reynolds number becomes pronounced.
Improvement in the heat transfer rate when f = 0.04 and water considered as base fluid is
about 3.8%, and this value is about 4% for water-propyleneglicol.

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(a)

(b)

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(c)
Figure 6: Effects of the Reynolds number, nanoparticle volume fraction and fluid inlet
temperature on enhancement in heat transfer when (a) Tin = 430 C (b) Tin = 520 C
(c) Tin= 60 0 C

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3. CONCLUSION
The inclusion of nanoparticles into the base fluid produces a considerable
augmentation of the heat transfer coefficient that clearly increases with an increase of the
particle concentration. The increase in the effective thermal conductivity and huge chaotic
movement of nanoparticles with increasing particle concentration is mainly responsible
for heat transfer enhancement. The convective heat transfer enhancement of SiO2water
nanofluid as the coolants inside aluminum tubes of the car radiator has been investigated.
The correlation developed by Gnielinsky et al. and Petukhov et al. predicts well the
experimental data. Effects of fluid inlet temperature, Reynolds number and nanoparticle
volume fraction on heat transfer are considered. Using nanofluid as working fluid leads to
higher heat transfer performance which is promoted the car engine performance and
would reduce fuel consumption. Nusselt number increases with increase of liquid inlet
temperature, nanoparticle volume fraction and Reynolds number.

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Pantzali. (2009). Chemical engineering science. Investing the efficacy of

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the presence of uniform magnetic field".

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[15]

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Department of Thermal Power Engineering, VTU PG Center, Mysore

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