EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF DOUBLE PIPE HEAT EXCHANGER USING EG-WATER-BASED SiC NANOFLUID

The flow and heat transfer aspects of SiC nanoparticles dispersed in an ethylene glycol (EG)-water mixture in a volume ratio of 20:80 (SiC/20:80 EG-water) as the base fluid was experimentally determined under turbulent conditions using a double pipe heat exchanger (DPHE) with a U-bend. The experiments were performed at an operating temperature of 45 degrees C for very low volume concentrations of nanofluid in the range of 0.01% to 0.08%. Significant enhancement in the thermophysical properties was obtained, even for low volume concentrations with the SiC/20:80 EG-water nanofluid. At a volume concentration of 0.08%, the enhancement percentages in thermal conductivity and viscosity were 40.63% and 38.2%, respectively. The experimental results of the heat transfer coefficient and friction factor were found to be in good agreement with that of correlations available in the literature. An average enhancement of 55.29% was obtained in the heat transfer coefficient for a 0.08% volume concentration of the SiC/20:80 EG-water nanofluid over the range of flow rates considered in the analysis. A maximum thermal performance factor (TPF) of 1.148 was obtained at a volume concentration of 0.08% and at a Reynolds Number of 9000.