A CFD study on the convective heat transfer of Al2O3/Water nanofluids under laminar flow regime

This paper reports Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) investigations on the Nusselt number and heat transfer performance of Al2O3/Water nanofluids under laminar flow condition in circular tube submitted to a constant and uniform heat flux at the wall. A single-phase model is employed with either constant or temperature dependent properties. The investigation is accomplished for size particles equal to 50 nm. Convective heat transfer coefficient for nanofluids is greater than that of the base liquid and heat transfer enhancement increases with the particle volume concentration. Higher heat transfer coefficients are detected in the case of temperature dependents model and the heat transfer always improves, as Reynolds number increases. Moreover a comparison with the experimental data present in the literature is carried out and good conformity between the model predictions and the experimental data is achived.