Abstract
Numerical analysis is performed to examine axisymmetric laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics of colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles in water (nanofluids). Effect of volume fraction on flow and heat transfer characteristics is investigated. Four different materials, Alumina, Copper, Copper Oxide, and Graphite are considered. Heat transfer and property measurements were conducted previously for Alumina nanofluid. The measurements have shown that nanofluids can behave as homogeneous mixtures. It is found that oxide-based nanofluids offer the least heat transfer enhancement compared to elements-based nanofluids. When normalized by friction pressure drop, it is shown that graphite can have the highest effective heat transfer enhancement. For a given volume flow rate, all nanofluids exhibited linear increase in heat transfer enhancement with increasing colloids volume fraction, up to 0.05.