Effect of uncertainties in physical properties on forced convection heat transfer with nanofluids

Nanofluids are considered to offer important advantages over conventional heat transfer fluids. However, at this early stage of their development, their thermophysical properties are not known precisely. As a result, the assessment of their true potential is difficult. This fact is illustrated by analyzing their thermohydraulic performance for both laminar and turbulent fully developed forced convection in a tube with uniform wall heat flux. Two different models from the literature are used to express these properties in terms of particle loading and they lead to very different qualitative and quantitative results in two types of problems: replacement of a simple fluid by a nanofluid in a given installation and design of an elementary heat transfer installation for a simple fluid or a nanofluid.