International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102

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International Journal of Thermal Sciences

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Numerical simulation of laminar forced convection heat transfer of Al2O3ewater

nanofluid in a pipe with return bend
Jongwook Choi a, *,1, Yuwen Zhang b
a
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Sunchon National University, Jeonnam 540-742, Korea
b
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Laminar forced convection heat transfer of the Al2O3ewater nanofluid in a pipe with a return bend is
Received 23 April 2011 analyzed by using a finite element method. The results show that the average Nusselt number increases
Received in revised form with increasing Reynolds number and Prandtl number, and the increment of specific heat in the
27 December 2011
nanofluid contributes to the heat transfer enhancement. The average Nusselt number in the return bend
Accepted 30 December 2011
Available online 17 January 2012
appears higher than that in the inlet and outlet pipes due to the secondary flows. However, the pressure
drop in the pipe largely increases with the increment of nanoparticle volume concentration. The
empirical correlations for the average Nusselt numbers are obtained as functions of the Dean number
Keywords:
Correlation equation
and the Prandtl number.
Finite element method Ó 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Heat transfer enhancement
Nanofluid
Return bend

1. Introduction However, the fluids including nanometer-sized particles do not

Various industries in many countries have made great efforts to
reduce the greenhouse emissions that cause global warming. To
achieve this, the active endeavor to increase the energy efficiency
has been made in industrial settings. The methods to improve the
efficiency of heat exchangers can also be one of these many efforts.
In this connection, many researchers have been interested in the
geometry of the heat exchanger to get higher thermal efficiency
[1e3]. Meanwhile, other research groups have been trying to
enhance the heat transfer in pipe systems by using nanofluids. The
concept of the nanofluids started from the fact that the thermal
conductivity of the fluid containing suspended nanoparticles is
improved more than that of the conventional heat transfer fluid [4].
Before the nanoparticles appeared, the researches on the fluid and
heat transfer problems had been carried out with millimeter- or
micrometer-sized particles [5e7]. These particles were not put to
practical use because they may have brought about poor suspen-
sion stability, channel clogging, system abrasion and so on.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ82 61 750 3826; fax: þ82 61 750 3820.
E-mail addresses: choijw99@scnu.ac.kr (J. Choi), zhangyu@missouri.edu
(Y. Zhang).
1 showed that the convective heat transfer coefficient of the nano-
Presently visiting professor at Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engi-
neering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Tel.: þ1 573 268 3961;
fax:þ1 573 884 5090.
have those serious problems and the measured thermal conduc-
tivity of the nanofluid is anomalously greater than the theoretical
prediction [8].
The nanofluid technology has been studied and developed by
many research groups worldwide [9,10]. Effects of particle volume
concentration, particle material, particle size, particle shape, base
fluid material, temperature, additive, and acidity on heat transfer
enhancement were investigated experimentally by multiple
research groups. Although the heat transfer data were partially
inconclusive or conflicting, the heat transfer enhancement
appeared in the range of 15e40% [11].
Straight pipes have been mainly utilized in the experimental or
numerical studies on the convective heat transfer enhancement
using nanofluids. Pak and Cho [12] experimentally investigated the
turbulent friction and the heat transfer behaviors of the nanofluids
such as gAl2O3ewater and TiO2ewater in a circular tube at the
Reynolds numbers of 104e105. The measured viscosities at the
volume concentration of 10% were approximately 200 times
greater for the gAl2O3ewater and 3 times greater for the
TiO2ewater than for the pure water. Also, the Nusselt number of
the nanofluids increased with the augmentation of the volume
concentration as well as the Reynolds number. However, the results
fluids was smaller than that of the pure water under the condition
of same average velocity.

1290-0729/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2011.12.017
 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102
Xuan and Li [13] measured the convective heat transfer coeffi-
cient and the friction factor of the Cuewater nanofluid in the
turbulent flow with the Reynolds numbers of 10,000e25,000. The
nanofluid had the larger convective heat transfer coefficient than
the base fluid at the same Reynolds number. However, the friction
factor of the nanofluid was almost same as that of the pure water
because of the low volume fractions of 0.3e2.0%. Wen and Ding [14]
reported an experimental work on the convective heat transfer of
the gAl2O3ewater nanofluid flowing through a copper tube in the
laminar flow regime with the Reynolds numbers of 500e2100. The
nanoparticles enhanced the convective heat transfer with the
increment of the Reynolds number and the particle volume
concentration. They also concluded that the enhancement of the
convective heat transfer could not be solely attributed to the
improvement of the effective thermal conductivity.
Maïga et al. [15] numerically studied the turbulent flow of
gAl2O3ewater and gAl2O3eethylene glycol nanofluids inside the
single uniformly heated tube at the Reynolds numbers of 10,000
and 50,000. It showed that the gAl2O3eethylene glycol nanofluid
offered a better heat transfer enhancement than the gAl2O3ewater
nanofluid. However, the wall shear stress in the gAl2O3eethylene
glycol was higher than that in the gAl2O3ewater. Also, Maïga
et al. [16] continued to perform the numerical simulations for the
laminar flow with the gAl2O3ewater nanofluid at the Reynolds
numbers of 250, 500, and 1000 and with the gAl2O3eethylene
glycol at the Reynolds numbers of 6.31, 63.1, and 631, respec-
tively. The tendencies of the convective heat transfer coefficient
and the wall shear stress were similar to the previous results.
Ding et al. [17] experimentally studied the heat transfer
behavior of the CNT(carbon nanotubes)-water nanofluid flowing
through a horizontal tube at the Reynolds numbers of 800e1200.
Over 350% of the maximum heat transfer enhancement was ob-
tained in the weight concentration of 0.5% at the Reynolds number
of 800. It was proposed that the observed large enhancement
could be caused by the particle re-arrangement, reduction of
thermal boundary layer thickness, very high aspect ratio of CNT, as
well as the thermal conductivity. Chun et al. [18] gained the
convective heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids made of several
alumina nanoparticles and transformer oil at the Reynolds
numbers of 100e450. One of the possible reasons for the heat
transfer enhancement was explained to be the high concentration
of the nanoparticles in the thermal boundary layer. He et al. [19]
carried out an experimental and numerical study on the flow
and heat transfer behaviors of the TNT(titanate nanotubes)-water
nanofluid at the Reynolds number of 1700 and the CNT-water
nanofluid at the Reynolds number of 800. The convective heat
transfer of the nanofluids was simulated in a single-phase flow
mode with considering the nanofluids as both Newtonian and
non-Newtonian fluids. It was suggested that the non-Newtonian
characteristics of the nanofluids influence on the overall heat
transfer enhancement.
Sommers and Yerkes [20] studied the convective heat transfer
and the system-level effect of the Al2O3epropanol nanofluid at the
Reynolds numbers of 500e3000. The change of viscosity was found
to be nonlinear and increased sharply with particles loading. The
heat transfer performance data were generally commensurate with
the baseline data. However, it concluded that the use of the
Al2O3epropanol nanofluid for the heat transfer enhancement was
difficult to be justified because the nano-abrasion may have been
occurred in the loop if the nanofluid was used for a long period of
time. Alammar and Hu [21] performed the numerical analysis to
examine the laminar flow and the heat transfer characteristics of
eight single-phase nanofluids. It was found that the oxide-based
nanofluids offered the least heat transfer enhancement when
compared with the elements-based nanofluids.
91
As mentioned above, the heat transfer characteristics of nano-
fluids have been investigated mainly in a straight pipe with rela-
tively high Reynolds numbers. However, most of heat exchange
systems consist of straight pipes and return bends. Therefore, it is
necessary to study the heat transfer enhancement in the pipes
including the return bend. In this context, there have been limited
works relevant to only a single curved tube with nanofluids.
Akbarinia and Behzadmehr [22] investigated the effects of buoy-
ancy force, centrifugal force, and nanoparticle volume concentra-
tion on Al2O3ewater nanofluid flows in a horizontal curved tube
only at the Reynolds numbers of 300, 600, and 900 and the Grashof
numbers of 8000, 300,000, and 640,000. The buoyancy force was
mainly focused in this investigation with regard to the centrifugal
force. The results showed that the buoyancy force had a negative
effect on the Nusselt number. Akbarinia [23] continued to analyze
the nanofluid flow and the heat transfer behavior along the curved
pipe at the Grashof numbers of 1000e146,600. Akbarinia and Laur
[24] reported the results of the laminar mixed convective heat
transfer in a circular curved tube by using the two phase mixture
model and the control volume technique at the Reynolds number of
648 and the Grashof number of 5740.
The objective of the present study is to analyze the hydrody-
namic and thermal characteristics of the Al2O3ewater nanofluid in
the pipes including a return bend with relatively low Reynolds
numbers, which are similar to the pipe shape in a heat exchanger
system. The reason why the numerical investigation is conducted at
relatively low Reynolds is that the effects of the heat transfer in the
return bend advance more noticeably in this range than those in the
inlet pipe and the outlet pipe. The FEM (finite element method) has
been used in solving the governing equations for the fluid and
thermal flows. To figure out the heat transfer behaviors of the
nanofluid, the average Nusselt numbers will be calculated with the
nanoparticle volume concentrations of 0.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0%
and the Reynolds numbers of 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100. The velocity
and temperature distributions will be obtained to understand the
role of the return bend, and the pressure drop will be considered to
realize the effect of the nanofluid viscosity. In addition, the corre-
lations which can be applied to the heat transfer analysis of the heat
exchanger system will be provided in the inlet pipe, the return
bend, and the outlet pipe, respectively.
2. Numerical analysis
2.1. Governing equations
The nanofluid consists of Al2O3 and water, and the nanoparticles
(Al2O3) are assumed to be well dispersed within the base fluid
(water). Furthermore, the nanofluid can be regarded and analyzed
as a single-phase fluid because the nanoparticles are ultrafine and
they can be fluidized easily [25]. Also, the motions of the nano-
particles can be neglected and the thermal equilibrium state can be
assumed to be predominant [16,22]. Therefore, the following
general conservation equations can be used to compute the flow
and thermal fields with the effective physical properties of the
nanofluid.
vuk
¼ 0 (1)
vxk
vuj vuj vp 1 v2 u j
þ uk ¼  þ (2)
vt vxk vxj Re vx2i
vT vT 1 v2 T
þ uk ¼ (3)
vt vxk Pe vx2j
92 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102

The dimensionless conservation equations are presented in the momentum equation (2). After the Taylor series expansion, the
equations (1)e(3), which are continuity, momentum, and energy Galerkin method, and the Green’s theorem are applied to these
equations, respectively. These equations written in the Cartesian terms, the discretized equation comes out as shown in equation (4).
tensor form are for the 3-dimensional incompressible laminar flow. Here, the first term on the left-hand side is approximated by
The viscous dissipation and the gravity terms are not considered a diagonal form and the integrations are calculated by the Gaussian
because these terms make little effects on the heat transfer analysis quadrature.
in the pipe at relatively low Reynolds number.
Z Z Z vuoj
Nj ucj dU ¼ Nj uoj dU  Dt Nj uoj dU
vxk
2.2. Finite element method U U U
Z vuoj
ðDtÞ2
The FEM to solve the governing equations can be classified into þ Nj uoi uok n k dG (4)
2 vxi
the mixed interpolation methods, the penalty methods, and the G
segregated velocityepressure solution methods [26]. The segre-
In the stage of the viscous prediction, the first term on the left-
gated scheme adopted in the present study requires much less
hand side and the second viscous term on the right-hand side are
execution time and storage than the other two methods, particu-
used in the momentum equation (2). The discretized equation is
larly for the three-dimensional configurations. Also, the pressure is
obtained by using the Galerkin method and the Green’s theorem,
computed only once in the stage of the pressure correction without
expressed in equation (5)
iterative calculations.
Unlike the basic FVM (Finite Volume Method), the FEM can be Z Z Z o Z vuoj
Dt vNj vuj Dt
easily applied to the arbitrary shapes with multi-blocks because it Nj uvj dU ¼ Nj ucj dU  dU þ Nj ni dG (5)
Re vxi vxi Re vxi
includes the concepts of the coordinate transformation for each U U U G
element in the local coordinate system. On the other hand, the FEM
code used in the present study has a limitation that the stability In the stage of the pressure correction, the continuity equation is
requirement is needed due to the explicit scheme. Therefore, the employed to compute the pressure values. At first, only the two
time step should be decided taking the Courant number and the terms, which are composed of the first term on the left-hand side
diffusion number into consideration. and the first pressure term on the right-hand side in the
The numerical algorithm by FEM is shown in Fig. 1. The velocity momentum equation (2), are considered. When the gradient of the
and the pressure are obtained from the continuity and momentum two terms is taken and then the continuity equation is substituted
equations through the four stages of the solution procedures. The to this equation, the pressure equation is obtained. The Galerkin
segregated approaches consist of convective approximation, method and the Green’s theorem are also applied to the pressure
viscous prediction, pressure correction, and velocity correction equation. The discretized equation is:
[27e29]. The temperature is acquired from the energy equation Z Z vuvj Z
vNj vpn 1 vpn
through the two stages: the convective approximation and the dU ¼  Nj dU þ Nj n dG (6)
diffusive prediction [30]. When the temperature is calculated, the vxj vxj Dt vxj vxj j
U U G
velocity is also required in the energy equation.
On the other hand, the velocity values computed in the viscous
2.2.1. Continuity and momentum equations prediction stage do not generally satisfy the continuity equation.
In the stage of the convective approximation, the first term and Therefore, the two terms of the momentum equation used in the
the second convective term on the left-hand side are considered in pressure correction stage are again taken into account in the stage

Fig. 1. Flowchart of numerical algorithm.

 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102 93

of the velocity correction. When the Galerkin method is applied to order to validate the FEM code because it has analytic solutions [31]
this equation, the discretized equation is obtained as: at steady state. Furthermore, at unsteady state, the results by the
Z Z Z FEM code are compared with those by the CFX commercial soft-
vpn
Nj unj dU ¼ Nj uvj dU  Dt Nj dU (7) ware [32] based on FVM. Another reason why the straight pipe in
vxj
U U U the validation is employed is that the straight pipe and the pipe
with the return bend have the same configuration and boundary
conditions in the computational space. Fig. 2 (a) and (b) show the
2.2.2. Energy equation geometric shapes of the straight pipe and the pipe with the return
In the stage of the convective approximation, the two terms of bend, respectively. These geometric shapes are different in the
the energy equation (3), the first term and second convective term physical space. However, they have the same shape, which is ob-
on the left-hand side, are used to calculate the temperature. The tained by conducting the coordinate transformations in order to
discretized equation obtained by the Taylor series expansion, the solve the governing equations, in the computational space as
Galerkin method, and the Green’s theorem is: shown in Fig. 2 (c). In addition, the same types of boundary
Z Z Z
vT o conditions are used for the two geometric shapes. In other words,
NT c dU ¼ NT o dU  Dt Nunk dU
vxk these calculations are carried out with the same configuration and
U U U boundary conditions in the computational space. Only the Jacobian
Z
ðDtÞ 2
vT o of transformation is different, which is interpreted as the ratio of
þ Nuni unk n dG (8) the volumes in the physical space to that in the computational
2 vxi k
G space. Therefore, the validations by the FEM code in the straight
pipe are still available for the pipe with the return bend.
In the stage of the diffusive prediction, the first term on the left-
hand side and the thermal diffusive term on the right-hand side of
2.3.1. Calculation conditions
the energy equation (3) are considered to calculate the final
The straight pipe, which has the dimensionless diameter of 1
temperature values. When the Taylor series expansion, the Galerkin
and the dimensionless length of 10, is considered in the numerical
method, and the Green’s theorem are also applied to this equation,
analysis. The grids of the straight pipe consist of the nodal points of
the discretized equation is obtained as:
Z Z Z Z 5226 and the elements of 4875 for the FEM, and the nodal points of
Dt vN vT o Dt vT o
NT n dU ¼ NT c dU  dU þ N n dG (9) 292,800 and the elements of 301,701 for the CFX, respectively. The
Pe vxj vxj Pe vxj j fine meshes are used in the CFX for more accurate comparison,
U U U G
which are approximately 60 times as much element as in the FEM.
The boundary conditions for the straight pipe are represented in
2.3. Validation of FEM code Table 1. The dimensionless velocity in the axial direction (w) and
the dimensionless temperature (T) are set up to 1 and 0 each at the
Before the above finite element method is applied to the inlet, and the dimensionless pressure (p) is given 0 at the outlet.
hydrodynamic and thermal analyses in the pipes including a return The dimensionless velocities (u, v, w) of 0 and the uniform heat flux
bend, the numerical analysis is carried out for a straight pipe in (qw) of 0.5 (W/m2) are granted at the wall boundary. The numerical

Fig. 2. Geometric shapes in physical and computational spaces.

94 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102

Table 1 1.0
Boundary conditions in straight pipe.

Boundary conditions 0.9

Inlet u ¼ v ¼ 0, w ¼ 1, T ¼ 0
Outlet p¼0
0.8
Wall u ¼ v ¼ w ¼ 0, qw ¼ k(vT*/vr)
0.7

(Tw -T*)/(Tw -Tc )

0.6
analysis is performed at the Reynolds number of 14.3 and the
Prandtl number of 0.7, which result in a Peclet number of 10. The 0.5
FEM(t=0.01)
calculation is conducted until the iteration is performed up to FEM(t=0.05)
10,000 times with the dimensionless time step of 0.001, which is 0.4 FEM(t=0.10)
FEM(t=0.50)
the calculation condition that reaches to the steady state. FEM(t=10.00)
0.3 CFX(t=0.01)
CFX(t=0.05)
2.3.2. Validation results 0.2 CFX(t=0.10)
The dimensionless velocity and temperature profiles calculated CFX(t=0.50)
CFX(t=10.00)
by the FEM, the CFX, and the analytic equations are observed in 0.1 Analytic Solution
Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. These values are at the middle cross section of the
straight pipe, which is the region of the fully developed flow. The 0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
dimensionless velocity and the dimensionless temperature pre-
dicted by the FEM almost coincide with the results from the CFX r/r0
with time. Also, the results from the FEM in the steady state are in Fig. 4. Dimensionless temperature profiles at cross section of pipe.
good agreement with the analytic solutions. Here, the analytic
solutions for the straight pipe are obtained by [31]:
 2 3. Flow and heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids
w* r
¼ 1 (10)
wc ro 3.1. Geometric shape and calculation conditions

      The geometrical configuration of the pipes with the return bend

Tw  T * 4 r 2 1 r 4
¼ 1 þ (11) is shown in Fig. 5. The dimensionless diameter (d) of the pipe is
ðTw  Tc Þ 3 ro 3 ro
given 1.0 and the lengths (l) of inlet and outlet pipes are set up to 10
The Nusselt number calculated by the FEM is compared with times the length of the diameter. Also, the curvature radius (R) of
that by the analytic solutions as illustrated in Table 2. The Nusselt the return bend is 1.5 times of the diameter.
numbers of 4.434 and 4.364 are obtained by the FEM and the The inlet boundary conditions are the dimensionless velocities
analytic solutions, respectively. An error of 1.6% is appeared in the in the axial direction, w ¼ 1, and the dimensionless temperature,
numerical solution and this difference is believed to have occurred T ¼ 0, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The dimensionless velocities,
due to the grid size effect. Consequently, the numerical solutions by u ¼ v ¼ w ¼ 0, and the uniform heat flux, qw ¼ 10,000 (W/m2), are
the FEM are acceptable and the FEM code can be used in the assigned at the wall boundary of the pipe. Also, the reference
numerical analysis for the nanofluid flow in the pipes including pressure, p ¼ 0, is set up at the outlet boundary. Meanwhile, the
a return bend. geometric coordinate values of the pipes with the return bend are
obtained from a straight pipe by using coordinate transformations.
The relatively fine grids are used in the regions of the inlet and the
1.0 return bend. The grid points of 11,256 and the elements of 10,450
are used in the entire pipes. The numerical solutions are calculated
0.9 until the iteration is conducted up to 50,000 times with the
dimensionless time step of 0.002 so as to compare with the
0.8
numerical results of the same computational conditions in the
steady state. Here, the dimensionless time step is decided by the
0.7
convergence conditions of the Courant number and the diffusion
0.6 number [33].
The physical properties of water and Al2O3 are shown in Table 3,
w*/wc

0.5 and the effective physical properties of the nanofluids are obtained
from the physical properties of the base fluid (water) and the
0.4 FEM(t=0.01) nanoparticles (Al2O3), respectively. The Al2O3ewater nanofluid is
FEM(t=0.05)
FEM(t=0.10) expected to have the enhanced heat transfer characteristics since
0.3 FEM(t=1.00) the thermal conductivity of Al2O3 is much higher than that of water.
CFX(t=0.01)
0.2 CFX(t=0.05)
CFX(t=0.10)
CFX(t=1.00)
0.1 Table 2
Analytic Solution
Nusselt numbers in numerical and analytic solutions.

0.0 Nusselt numbers

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Numerical Solution 4.434
r/r0 Analytic Solution 4.364
Error 1.604 (%)
Fig. 3. Dimensionless velocity profiles at cross section of pipe.
 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102 95

Fig. 5. Schematic representation for cross section of pipes with return bend.

The effective physical properties of the nanofluid are obtained as 3.2. Results and discussions
functions of nanoparticle volume concentration (f) [22]:
The numerical analysis for the hydrodynamic and thermal flows
reff ¼ ð1  fÞrf þ frs (12) of nanofluid in the pipes with the return bend has been performed
with different concentrations and Reynolds numbers. In total, the
 
25 cases have been simulated in the conditions of the concentra-
meff ¼ 123f2 þ 7:3f þ 1 mf (13)
tions of 0.0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5%, and 10.0% and the Reynolds numbers
"    # of 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100, respectively. For better understanding the
  ð1  fÞ rcp f þ f rcp s thermal and fluid flows in the return bend, the dimensionless
Cp eff ¼ (14) velocity and temperature distributions at the concentration of 0%
ð1  fÞrf þ frs
are shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 when the Reynolds numbers are 10
0  1 and 100, respectively. The velocity profiles at the Reynolds number

Bks þ ðn  1Þk f  ðn  1Þ f kf  ks C
keff ¼ @   Akf
ks þ ðn  1Þkf þ f kf  ks
The equation (13) of the effective viscosity was obtained by
performing a least-square curve fitting of experimental data
available for the mixtures, and presented in the literature [15]. Also,
the equation (15) of the effective thermal conductivity was intro-
duced by Hamilton and Crosser [34], and was shown to be appro-
priate for the nanofluids in the literature [35]. Here, the
concentration of 0% means the pure water in which the nano-
particles are not included within. The values of effective properties
used in this work are tabulated in Table 4.
of 10 keep nearly parabolic shapes in the entire pipes. However, at
(15) the Reynolds number of 100, the dimensionless velocity in the
outer region of the return bend appears higher than that in the
inner region. This flow can affect the heat transfer characteristics in
the return bend and in the outlet pipe. Also, the heat transfer is
expected to be improved between the inside and the outside of the
pipe because the cold flow in the core of the inlet pipe shifts to the
outer region of the return bend as shown in Fig. 8.
The dimensionless velocity profiles for the minus x-direction at
the cross section (AeA) are represented in Fig. 9. The position of the
maximum velocity is moved towards the outer region of the return
bend as the Reynolds number increases. The dimensionless
temperature at the wall of the return bend is higher than that at the
center as shown in Fig. 10 because the heat flux is uniformly
supplied at the wall boundary. However, as the Reynolds number
increases, the dimensionless temperature declines gradually in the
outer region of the return bend due to the cold flow from the inlet
pipe.
The secondary flow occurs only in the return bend because of
the centrifugal force which acts in the vertical direction of the main
flow as shown in Fig. 11. In other words, the two rotating flows at
the top and the bottom of the return bend occur due to the different
centrifugal forces between in the inner region and in the outer
regions of the return bend. Therefore, the secondary flow can be
defined as the rotating flow in the circumferential direction. It can
be seen in detail that the cold flow moves to the outer region with
the increase of the Reynolds number. The dimensionless temper-
ature distribution at the Reynolds number of 10 is different from

Table 3
Physical properties of water and Al2O3.

Density Viscosity Specific heat Conductivity Shape

(kg/m3) (Ns/m2) (J/kgK) (W/mK) factor (n)
Water 998.0 1.0020.E-03 4182.0 0.5984 e
Al2O3 3960.0 e 753.0 46.0 3
Fig. 6. Boundary conditions for pipes with return bend.
96 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102

Table 4 as shown in Fig. 14. The pressure drops in the return bend are lower
Variations of effective physical properties with concentration. than those in the inlet and outlet pipes because the pressure drop
Concentration Density Viscosity Specific Conductivity Increasing depends mainly on the pipe length. Here, the length ratio of the
(%) (kg/m3) (Ns/m2) heat (J/kgK) (W/mK) rates of return bend to the straight pipe is about 0.47. The effect of the
conductivity
secondary flow is relatively small on the pressure loss. The pressure
(%)
drops in the inlet pipe are higher than those in the outlet pipe. It is
0.0 998.0 1.0020.E-03 4182.0 0.59840 100.0
because the back pressure at the end of the inlet pipe is larger than
2.5 1072.1 1.2619.E-03 3865.3 0.64264 107.4
5.0 1146.1 1.6758.E-03 3589.6 0.68911 115.2 that at the end of the outlet pipe due to the return bend. As a result,
7.5 1220.2 2.2439.E-03 3347.3 0.73799 123.3 the return bend plays a major role in enhancing the heat transfer
10.0 1294.2 2.9659.E-03 3132.8 0.78947 131.9 without the large pressure loss.
Fig. 15 shows the average Nusselt numbers at different Reynolds
numbers of 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100 and concentrations of 0.0%, 2.5%,
5.0%, 7.5%, and 10.0%, respectively. The average Nusselt numbers
the distributions at the other Reynolds numbers. More heat is increase with the rise of the Reynolds number and the concentra-
supplied into the outer region because the curved length in the tion. In general, the heat transfer of the nanofluid is improved with
outer region is relatively longer than the length in the inner region. the augmentation of the concentration because the thermal
Thus, the dimensionless temperature in the outer region at the conductivity of the nanofluid grows with the concentration as
Reynolds number of 10 appears higher than that in the inner shown in Table 4. In addition, the increment of the concentration is
region. However, at the other Reynolds numbers, the dimensionless accompanied by the rise of the inlet velocity at the same Reynolds
temperature in the outer region is lower than that in the inner number as expressed in Table 5. Therefore, these conditions cause
region because the intensity of the secondary flow increased the increase of the average Nusselt number. It is noted that the
gradually. The velocity ratios of the secondary flow to the main flow results at the concentrations of 7.5% and 10.0% might not be correct
rise with the increase of the Reynolds number as represented in in reality because the stable nanofluid could not be found for such
Fig. 12. high volume concentrations.
To investigate the role of the return bend, the entire pipes are For the entire pipes, the increasing rates of the average Nusselt
divided into three parts: the inlet pipe, the return bend, and the number with the effect of the Reynolds number and the concen-
outlet pipe. The average Nusselt numbers at the concentration of 0% tration are illustrated in Fig. 16. These increments mean the ratios of
are obtained with the increase of the Reynolds number as shown in the average Nusselt numbers at the nanofluids to the average
Fig. 13. Although the slopes appear different, the average Nusselt Nusselt number at the pure water of the concentration of 0.0%. Of
numbers rise in all parts because the inlet velocity increases with course, the average Nusselt numbers continue to increase at the
increasing Reynolds number. At the Reynolds numbers of 10 and entire pipes with increasing Reynolds number as shown in Fig. 13.
25, the average Nusselt numbers of the inlet pipe are relatively Also, at the inlet pipe, the increasing rates continue to be on the rise
higher than those of the return bend and the outlet pipe. However, with increasing Reynolds number as represented in Fig. 17.
at the Reynolds numbers of 50, 75, and 100, the average Nusselt However, the slope of the average Nusselt numbers between the
numbers of the return bend are larger than those of the inlet and Reynolds numbers of 25 and 50 is steeper than the slopes at the
outlet pipes because the cold flow in the inlet pipe moves to the other Reynolds numbers as shown in Fig. 13 because the average
outer region of the return bend as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. In other Nusselt number increases noticeably in the return bend at the
words, the heat transfer in the return bend improves with the Reynolds number of 50. Although the average Nusselt numbers
increase of the Reynolds number due to the secondary flow. On the have high values in the return bend at the Reynolds numbers of 75
other hand, the pressure drops are compared in each of three parts and 100, they have relatively low values in the inlet and outlet

Fig. 7. Distributions of dimensionless velocity and dimensionless temperature at Re ¼ 10.

 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102 97

Fig. 8. Distributions of dimensionless velocity and dimensionless temperature at Re ¼ 100.

pipes. Therefore, the increasing rate of the average Nusselt number
at the Reynolds of 50 is higher than the increasing rates at the other
Reynolds numbers. Those rates decrease gradually at the Reynolds
numbers of 75 and 100. As a result, it is noted that the increasing
rate of the average Nusselt number is affected by the return bend.
On the other hand, the highest increment, approximately 112%,
appears at the Reynolds number of 50 and the concentration of
10.0%. However, this value does not reach up to the increasing rate,
115.2%, for the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid as represented
in Table 4.
The pressure drop between inlet and outlet of the pipe is
depicted in Fig. 18. Here, the dimensional pressure is used because
the dimensionless pressure has the same value at the same Rey-
nolds number. The pressure drop increases dramatically with the
increment of the Reynolds number. The increasing rate of the
pressure drop at the concentration of 10.0% with respect to the
concentration of 0.0% appears nearly 6 times higher at all the
Reynolds numbers. This value is considerably high in comparison
with the increasing rate of the heat transfer. Consequently, the high
pressure drop for the nanofluid should be given careful consider-
ation in designing heat exchangers although the nanofluid does not
have the characteristics such as poor suspension stability, channel
clogging, system abrasion and so on.
In order to exclude the influence of the increasing inlet velocity
caused by the concentration, the numerical analysis has been
conducted at the same volumetric flow rate in the pipe. That is, the
average Nusselt numbers are obtained in the condition of the same
dimensionless inlet velocity at the concentrations of 0.0% and 10.0%
as expressed in Fig. 19. The results show that the average Nusselt
numbers at the concentration of 0.0% are higher than those at the

2.0 10.0
Re=10
1.8 9.0
Re=25
Re=50
1.6 8.0 Re=75
Re=100
1.4 7.0

1.2 6.0

1.0 5.0
-u

0.8 4.0

0.6 Re=10 3.0

Re=25
Re=50
0.4 2.0
Re=75
Re=100
0.2 1.0

0.0 0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
d d
Fig. 9. Dimensionless velocity profiles at various Reynolds numbers. Fig. 10. Dimensionless temperature profiles at various Reynolds numbers.
98 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102

Fig. 11. Distributions of secondary flow and dimensionless temperature at cross section (AeA) of return bend.

concentration of 10.0%. This means that the increment of the inlet
velocity can improve the heat transfer in the pipe without using the
nanofluids. Meanwhile, the specific heat of the nanofluid decreases
with the increase of the concentration as shown in Table 4. For the
purpose of investigating the effect of the specific heat, the addi-
tional numerical calculation is carried out with the increasing
specific heat of the nanofluid. To achieve this, the specific heat,
3132.8 (J/kgK), of the nanofluid at the concentration of 10.0% is
increased up to 4182.0 (J/kgK), which is the value of the specific
heat at the concentration of 0.0%. The results show that the average
Nusselt numbers increase with the specific heat as represented
with the symbol > in Fig. 19. It means that the specific heat can
play an important role in the heat transfer enhancement of the
nanofluid. The pressure drop with respect to the dimensionless
inlet velocity is illustrated in Fig. 20. The pressure drop at the
concentration of 10.0% is larger than that at the concentration of
0.0% because of the kinematic viscosity of the nanofluid.
In the meantime, the convective heat transfer coefficient is
generally required when the temperature distribution is calculated
to design heat exchangers. If the average Nusselt number is offered

11.0
0.26
Inlet pipe
10.0 Return bend
0.24
Outlet pipe
Entire pipes
0.22 9.0

0.20
Velocity ratios

8.0
Nu

0.18
7.0

0.16
6.0
0.14

5.0
0.12

4.0
0.10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Re Re
Fig. 12. Velocity ratios of secondary flow to main flow in return bend. Fig. 13. Comparisons of average Nusselt numbers in various parts.
 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102 99

0.4 114

Inlet pipe 0.0%

Return bend 2.5%
112 5.0%
Outlet pipe
7.5%
0.3 10.0%
110
Pressure drop(Pa)

Nunf / Nuf (%)

108

0.2
106

104
0.1
102

100
0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0 10 25 50 75 100
Re Re
Fig. 16. Average Nusselt number ratios in entire pipes.
Fig. 14. Comparisons of pressure drops in various parts.

with the equation form based on the mean temperature instead of

the center temperature in the pipe system, the convective heat
10.0 transfer coefficient can be easily applied to the numerical analysis.
0.0% The correlation equations below are obtained by the multiple linear
2.5% regression analysis as functions of the Dean number and the
9.0 5.0% Prandtl number:
7.5%
10.0%
Nui ¼ 2:2999 De0:1906 Pr 0:1950 ðinlet pipeÞ (16)
8.0
Nub ¼ 1:4039 De1:7533 Pr 1:9463 ðreturn bendÞ (17)
Nu

7.0
Nuo ¼ 1:6519 De0:2760 Pr 0:2073 ðoutlet pipeÞ (18)

6.0

5.0 114
0.0%
2.5%
4.0 112 5.0%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 7.5%
Re 10.0%
110
Fig. 15. Dependence average Nusselt number on concentration at various Reynolds
Nunf / Nuf (%)

numbers.
108

106

104
Table 5
Variations of inlet velocities (m/s) with Reynolds number and concentration.

Reynolds Nanoparticle volume concentration 102

number
0.0% 2.5% 5.0% 7.5% 10.0%
10 1.0040.E-03 1.1771.E-03 1.4622.E-03 1.8390.E-03 2.2917.E-03 100
25 2.5100.E-03 2.9427.E-03 3.6555.E-03 4.5975.E-03 5.7293.E-03 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
50 5.0200.E-03 5.8854.E-03 7.3111.E-03 9.1950.E-03 1.1459.E-02
75 7.5301.E-03 8.8281.E-03 1.0967.E-02 1.3792.E-02 1.7188.E-02 Re
100 1.0040.E-02 1.1771.E-02 1.4622.E-02 1.8390.E-02 2.2917.E-02
Fig. 17. Average Nusselt number ratios in inlet pipe.
100 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102

7.0 7.0
0.0% 0.0%
2.5% 10.0%
6.0 5.0% 6.0
7.5%
10.0%
5.0 5.0
Pressure drop(Pa)

Pressure drop(Pa)
4.0 4.0

3.0 3.0

2.0 2.0

1.0 1.0

0.0 0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Re Dimensionless inlet velocity
Fig. 18. Dependence of pressure drop on concentration at various Reynolds numbers. Fig. 20. Comparison of pressure drops at concentrations of 0.0% and 10.0%.

4. Conclusions

The hydrodynamic and thermal analyses have been performed

Nut ¼ 1:8330 De0:2675 Pr 0:1900 ðentire pipesÞ (19) on the Al2O3ewater nanofluid in the pipes with return bend. The
Here, the distinctions by concentrations are not necessary in the results show that the average Nusselt numbers increase with
above functions because the Nusselt number, the Dean number, increasing Reynolds number and the nanoparticle volume
and the Prandtl number are decided by the concentration of the concentration. Especially, the heat transfer enhancement in the
nanofluid with the effective physical properties, regardless of the return bend appears larger than that in the inlet and outlet pipes
nanofluid. The adjusted R squares at the confidence level of 95% in due to the effect of the secondary flow. However, the concentration
equations (16)e(19), which mean the coefficients of determination, increment of the nanofluid is accompanied by the high pressure
are 0.981, 0.952, 0.960, and 0.968, respectively. The standard drop in the pipe. Also, the increasing rate of the average Nusselt
deviations are 0.136, 0.509, 0.273, and 0.246. These equations are number is less than that of the thermal conductivity of the nano-
effective in the range of the Dean numbers of 6e58 and the Prandtl fluid with the augmentation of the concentration.
numbers of 7e12. Under the same volumetric flow rate, the average Nusselt
numbers of the pure water are greater than those of the nanofluid
with the concentration of 10%. Also, the increasing rate of the
pressure drop in the nanofluid appears larger than the rate in the
pure water. Meanwhile, the heat transfer characteristics of the
12.0
nanofluid are improved with the increase of the specific heat.
0.0%(Cp=4182.0) The empirical correlation equations for the average Nusselt
11.0 10.0%(Cp=3132.8) number are obtained as functions of the Dean number and the
10.0%(Cp=4182.0) Prandtl number in the inlet pipe, the return bend, the outlet pipe,
10.0 and the entire pipes, respectively. These equations will be expected
to be useful in the temperature analysis for designing heat
9.0 exchangers. In the future study, the hydrodynamic and thermal
analyses will be conducted with the consideration of the various
parameters of the nanofluid and also the nanoparticles will be
Nu

8.0
simulated from the viewpoint of the molecular dynamics without
using the effective physical properties.
7.0
Acknowledgments
6.0
This work was supported in part by Research Foundation of
5.0 Engineering College, Sunchon National University.

4.0
Nomenclature
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Cp specific heat, J/(kgK)
Dimensionless inlet velocity
d dimensionless diameter of pipe
Fig. 19. Dependence of average Nusselt number on concentration and specific heat at d* diameter of pipe, m
various dimensionless inlet velocities. De Dean number (¼Re(d/2R)1/2)
 J. Choi, Y. Zhang / International Journal of Thermal Sciences 55 (2012) 90e102 101

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