Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristic of zinc–water nanofluid

Abstract

Development of alternative working fluids with enhanced thermal properties is very much needed to replace conventional fluids. Colloidal solution of some base fluid with solid nanoparticles dispersed in it, which is called as nanofluid, is emerging as a promising alternative heat transfer fluid. Zinc, being ecofriendly material, is selected as dispersed phase in water to develop zinc–water (Zn–H<inf>2</inf>O) nanofluid. Zn–H<inf>2</inf>O nanofluid is synthesized by single step method and characterized. Thermophysical properties are estimated by available theoretical models. Estimated properties proved that nanofluid is having enhanced thermophysical properties compared to the base fluid due to which nanofluid can become potential working fluid for heat exchanging devices. Synthesized nanofluid is circulated through heat transfer loop to assess its performance in turbulent flow regime and at constant wall temperature condition. Heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are estimated from experimental results and both are considered as performance evaluation criteria for heat transfer performance assessment. 83 % increase in Nusselt number with 9 % increase in pressure drop is observed for the nanofluid compared to water. © 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.