Investigation of Thermal Conductivity and Convective Heat Transfer of Alumina Nanofluids under Laminar Flow

Abstract

In this research, dilute colloidal suspension alumina nanofluids were prepared by dispersing alumina nanoparticles in DI water and ethylene glycol as base fluids. Particle size analyzer and TEM test results revealed that the size of the alumina nanofluids(3wt% and 5wt%) with dispersion time 3hrs were 46nm and 60nm respectively. Thermal conductivity of these alumina nanofluids was measured by means of hot wire technique using a LAMBDA system. For water based alumina nanofluids, thermal conductivity enhancement was from 2.29% to 3.06% with 5wt% alumina at temperatures ranging from 15 to 40ºC. Whereas in case of ethylene glycol based alumina nanofluids under the same temperature range, thermal conductivity enhancement was from 9.6% to 10% with 5wt% alumina. An enhancement of 37% average convective heat transfer was achieved with 5wt% alumina nanofluids at Re of 1,100.