Experimental Study on Boiling Heat Transfer of α-Al2O3-Water Nanofluid

An experimental installation for measuring boiling heat transfer is designed, and alpha-Al2O3-water nanofluid with different mass fractions is produced. The boiling heat transfer of alpha-Al2O3-water nanofluid is experimentally investigated. In this paper, the effects of different nanoparticle mass fractions and different heat fluxes on boiling heat transfer are experimentally discussed. The experimental results of water are in good agreement with the Rohsenow pool boiling correlation. It is found that the boiling heat transfer of nanofluid has an enhancement compared with pure water at a low nanoparticle mass fraction (wt% = 1%), as the mass fraction increases, the boiling heat transfer of nanofluid reduces to almost the same level as pure water at a nanoparticle mass fraction of 2% (wt% = 2%), and shows a reduction when compared with pure water at a high nanoparticle mass fraction (wt% = 3%). In addition, the correlation between heat flux and superheating and the correlation between boiling heat transfer coefficient and heat flux are investigated.