Temperature Dependence of Convective Heat Transfer with Al2O3 Nanofluids in the Turbulent Flow Region

An experimental investigation on the characteristics of the convective heat transfer in the fully developing region of a circular straight tube with a constant heat flux was carried out with Al2O3 nanofluids. Stable nanofluids, which were water-based suspensions of Al2O3 nanoparticles, were prepared by two-step method. The effects of the thermal conductivity, viscosity, and heat capacity of the nanofluids on convective heat transfer were investigated. The result showed that the coefficient enhancement of the convective heat transfer in the Al2O3 nanofluids was increased with increasing fluid temperature compared to that of water at a volume fraction of 3.0% in the turbulent flow region. Thermal conductivity was increased from 8% to 20%, and the increment of convective heat transfer coefficient was enhanced from 14% to 30% with fluid temperature from 22 degrees C to 75 degrees C, respectively. We observed that the increment of convective heat transfer coefficient in nanofluids was much higher than that of the thermal conductivity at a given temperature condition. The enhancement of Brownian motion due to the decreasing kinematic viscosity led to a higher convective heat transfer coefficient at a higher temperature condition.