Heat transfer properties of aqueous carbon nanotubes nanofluids in coaxial heat exchanger under laminar regime

The thermal performance of water-based multi-wall carbon nanotubes nanofluids are measured in a coaxial heat exchanger under laminar regime within the range of Reynolds numbers 500-2500. The convective heat transfer properties with constant wall temperature are evaluated for four different multi-wall carbon nanotubes based nanofluids at low concentration of 0.05% in weight (0.026% in volume). The measurements of thermal and rheological properties of the nanofluids with operating temperature were investigated experimentally. The effects of the aspect ratio of carbon nanotubes, the type of base fluid and surfactant on viscosity, thermal conductivity and laminar convective heat transfer were studied. Based on the experimental results, we reported the shear-thinning behavior of nanofluids, the nanofluid viscosity being dependant on the base fluid type in the Newtonian region. We also showed that the enhancement of the thermal conductivity and the average convective heat transfer of nanofluids increased with the aspect ratio of nanotubes and decreased when the thermal conductivity of the base fluid increases. This enhancement attains at least 10% in comparison to base fluid even with the low content of nanotubes used. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.