Sharif Digital Repository

Thermal conductivity of nanofluids depends on several parameters including temperature, concentration, and size of nanoparticles. Most of the proposed models utilized concentration and temperature as influential factors in their modeling. In this study, group method of data handling (GMDH) artificial neural networks is applied in order to model the dependency of thermal conductivity on the mentioned factors. Firstly, temperature and concentration considered as inputs and a model is represented. Afterwards, the size of nanoparticles is added to the input variables and the results are compared. Based on obtained results, GMDH is an appropriate method to predict thermal conductivity of the... 

One of the most prominent hybrid solar devices is the photovoltaic thermal system (PVTS), which is able to provide simultaneous electricity and thermal energy. The thermal energy is the heat absorbed by the photovoltaic (PV) module and transferred to the attached thermal collector and finally to the heat transfer fluid. Utilizing a proper heat transfer fluid is an effective means to increase in obtained thermal and electrical powers and enhance PV thermal management. Over the past decade, employing nanofluids thanks to their superior thermophysical properties became a proved strategy to improve the efficiency of the PVTS. This paper covers cutting-edge researches on nanofluid-based PVTS via... 

One of the most prominent hybrid solar devices is the photovoltaic thermal system (PVTS), which is able to provide simultaneous electricity and thermal energy. The thermal energy is the heat absorbed by the photovoltaic (PV) module and transferred to the attached thermal collector and finally to the heat transfer fluid. Utilizing a proper heat transfer fluid is an effective means to increase in obtained thermal and electrical powers and enhance PV thermal management. Over the past decade, employing nanofluids thanks to their superior thermophysical properties became a proved strategy to improve the efficiency of the PVTS. This paper covers cutting-edge researches on nanofluid-based PVTS via... 

Natural convection heat transfer in a concentric horizontal annulus with annular fins is numerically studied. Due to the low thermal conductivity of water, CuO-water and Al2O3-water nanofluids were used as heat transfer fluids. The effect of three different parameters, including fin spacing, fin eccentricity, and fin thickness at different fin diameters and Rayleigh number range of 104 to 9 (Formula presented.) 105, were studied. The obtained results revealed that Al2O3-water nanofluid has the highest heat transfer rate. The calculated heat transfer rates for Al2O3-water nanofluid for Rayleigh numbers of 9 (Formula presented.) 105, 105, and 104 were respectively up to 12.1%, 26.2%, and 31.6%... 

Natural convection heat transfer in a concentric horizontal annulus with annular fins is numerically studied. Due to the low thermal conductivity of water, CuO-water and Al2O3-water nanofluids were used as heat transfer fluids. The effect of three different parameters, including fin spacing, fin eccentricity, and fin thickness at different fin diameters and Rayleigh number range of 104 to 9 (Formula presented.) 105, were studied. The obtained results revealed that Al2O3-water nanofluid has the highest heat transfer rate. The calculated heat transfer rates for Al2O3-water nanofluid for Rayleigh numbers of 9 (Formula presented.) 105, 105, and 104 were respectively up to 12.1%, 26.2%, and 31.6%... 

Abstract: We propose a novel method for producing unequal sized droplets through breakup of droplets. This method does not have the disadvantages of the available methods and also reduces the dependence of the droplets volume ratio on the inlet velocity of the system by up to 26 percent. The employed method for investigating the proposed system relies on 3D numerical simulation using the VOF algorithm and the results have been obtained with various valve ratios for both the micro- and nanoscale. The results indicate that the droplet length during the breakup process increases linearly with time. The droplet length at the nanoscale is smaller than that at the micro scale. It has been shown... 

Nanofluids viscosity is one of the most important thermophysical properties in nanofluids usage especially in chemical and petroleum engineering applications. So it is highly desirable to predict the viscosity of nanofluids accurately. Experimental measurements are impossible in most situations and present models are not comprehensive and efficient especially for high temperature, high volume concentration and high viscosity values. In this study, a new correlation has been developed based on the comprehensive database of water based Al2O3, TiO2, SiO2 and CuO nanofluids viscosity data found in literature. The proposed correlation uses temperature, nanoparticle size, nanoparticle volumetric... 

This study deals with an experimental investigation on the thermal performance of a mechanical wet cooling tower with counter flow arrangement by using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and nanoporous graphene nanofluids. Stable nanofluids were prepared through two-step procedure by using water with properties taken from a working cooling tower in the South of Iran. Zeta potential revealed suitable stability of MWNTs and nanoporous graphene nanofluids. Thermal and rheological properties of the nanofluids were investigated. It was found that thermal conductivity increases by 20% and 16% at 45°C for MWNTs and nanoporous graphene nanofluids, respectively. The increase in density and... 

This work is dedicated to finding a suitable measure to judge thermal performance of nanofluids. The importance of this issue arises from misleading claim of excess heat transfer of nanofluids compared to the base fluid, neglecting the hydraulic effects such as increase in pressure drop. To clarify the issue, the experimental setup with capability to create constant Reynolds number and constant pumping power is constructed. Thermal behavior of nanofluids of silicon oxide/water and aluminum oxide/water and distilled water in developing region of laminar flow regime is investigated. In this regard, the convective heat transfer coefficient within the finned tube heat exchanger is evaluated.... 

Nanofluids containing Fe3O4 and carbon nanotubes nanoparticles emulsified and dispersed using gum arabic (GA) and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) were made and characterized for potential use as heat transfer fluids. Due to the interaction between the TMAH and GA molecules, the magnetic nanoparticles and CNTs were physically adsorbed. This paper reports an experimental work on the effect of ultrasonication on thermal conductivity of this aqueous suspension. The characterization and surface morphology of the dried samples were studied by using XRD and TEM measurements. Experiments were conducted in the magnetic nanoparticles mass concentration range 0.494-2.428%,... 

In this paper, with the aim of enhancing the thermal conductivity of the fluid, a nanofluid is prepared based on SiO2. A series of experimental tests were carried out for both laminar and forced convection regimes in a horizontal tube with two different geometric shapes (circular and square cross section) subjected to constant wall heat flux (4735 W m−2). A comparative study has been done to investigate the effect of the geometry on the convective heat transfer. Moreover, the effect of the volume concentration on the behavior of the nanofluid and the base fluid was evaluated by comparing various volume concentrations (0.05, 0.07 and 0.2%). The experiments were done under two different... 

In this paper, with the aim of enhancing the thermal conductivity of the fluid, a nanofluid is prepared based on SiO2. A series of experimental tests were carried out for both laminar and forced convection regimes in a horizontal tube with two different geometric shapes (circular and square cross section) subjected to constant wall heat flux (4735 W m−2). A comparative study has been done to investigate the effect of the geometry on the convective heat transfer. Moreover, the effect of the volume concentration on the behavior of the nanofluid and the base fluid was evaluated by comparing various volume concentrations (0.05, 0.07 and 0.2%). The experiments were done under two different... 

Various methods are devised to capture renewable energy or waste heat from different sectors, where among all, waste heat capturing from the generator of a wind turbine through the cooling process for freshwater and cooling production is paid less attention in Iran, in spite of the fact that many wind farms in Iran are in hot and humid regions and the residents nearby the farms desperately need freshwater and cooling load. To surmount this problem, waste heat extraction from a wind turbine (Enercon 70 Model) for freshwater and cooling production is proposed in this study. Instead of dissipating this thermal energy of the wind turbine into the environment, it can be used for freshwater and... 

The present investigation considers the fully developed electro-osmotic flow of power-law fluids in a planar microchannel subject to constant wall heat fluxes. Using an approximate velocity distribution, closed form expressions are obtained for the transverse distribution of temperature and Nusselt number. The approximate solution is found to be quite accurate, especially for the values of higher than ten for the dimensionless Debye-Huckel parameter where the exact values of Nusselt number are predicted. The results demonstrate that a higher value of the dimensionless Debye-Huckel parameter is accompanied by a higher Nusselt number for wall cooling, whereas the opposite is true for wall... 

Both experimental and numerical studies are unanimous for enhancing Nusselt number for forced convection of nanofluids with slight difference, but there is inconsistency for natural convection heat transfer of nanofluids. In this paper attempt is made to study the effects of nanoparticles migration on the natural convection behavior of nanofluids. For analysis, a mixture model is used by including important phenomena such as Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects. These two mechanisms are taken into account to compute the slip velocities between the base fluid and nanoparticles. The governing equations are solved numerically and good agreements are observed in comparison with... 

In this article, mixed-convective heat transfer of nanofluids in a vertical channel partially filled with highly porous medium was studied. In the porous region, the Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy model was used to describe the fluid flow pattern. Different viscous dissipation models were also applied to account for viscous heating. At the porous medium-fluid interface, interfacial coupling conditions for the fluid velocity and temperature were used to derive the analytical solution using a two-parameter perturbation method. The model used for the nanofluids incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. With constant wall temperature, velocity and temperature profiles... 

In this study, silicon microchannel heat sink (MCHS) performance using nanofluids as coolants was analyzed. The nanofluid was a mixture of nanoscale Cu particles and pure water with various volume fractions. Based on theoretical models and experimental correlations, the heat transfer and friction coefficients required in the analysis were used. In the theoretical model, nanofluid was treated as a single-phase fluid. In the experimental correlation, thermal dispersion due to particle random motion was included. The microchannel heat sink performances for a specific geometries with Wch = W fin = 100 μm and Lch =300 μm is examined. In this study, flow in laminar and turbulent regimes using the... 

Effect of using Al 2O 3-water nanofluids with different volume fractions and particle diameters on generated entropy, hydrodynamic performance and heat transfer characteristics of a tangential micro-heat sink (TMHS) was numerically investigated in this research. Results indicated that considerable heat transfer enhancement is possible when using Al 2O 3-water nanofluids as coolant and clearly the enhancement improves with increasing particles concentration and decreasing particles size. However, using nanofluid has also induced drastic effects on the pumping power that increases with particles volume fraction and Reynolds number. Finally, it was found that generated total entropy decreases... 

A new characteristic-based method is developed and used for solving the mixed and forced convection problems. The nano-fluid flow with heat transfer is simulated with a novel characteristic-based scheme in closed domains with different aspect ratios. For this purpose, a FORTRAN code has been written and developed. Water as a pure fluid and water-titanium dioxide as a nano-fluid were considered. The governing equations are solved by the finite volume utilizing a characteristic-based scheme for the convective fluxes. The simulation is done at Grashof numbers from 100 to 104, Reynolds numbers from 100 to 1000, and volume fractions of nano-particles from 0% to 10%. Streamlines, isotherms,... 

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the natural convection behavior of nanofluids in an enclosure. The enclosure is a 3D capsule with curved boundaries filled with TiO2-water nanofluid. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, a multiple relaxation times lattice Boltzmann method (MRT-LBM) has been used. Two-component LBM has been conducted to consider the interaction forces between nanoparticles and the base fluid. Findings: Results show that the enhanced Nusselt number (Nu*) increases with the increase in volume fraction of nanoparticles (ϕ) and Ra number and decrease of nanoparticle size (λ). Additionally, the findings indicate that increasing volume fraction beyond a...