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Numerical investigation of turbulent heat transfer enhancement using combined propeller-type turbulator and nanofluid in a circular tube

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Abstract

Heat transfer enhancement is an important issue because of environmental effects and also cost reduction in any thermal installation. A combined propeller-type turbulator and Al2O3 nanofluid are considered for heat transfer enhancement in a horizontal circular tube. Three-dimensional governing equations using the two-phase mixture model with SST k–ε turbulent model are numerically solved to predict the behavior of different thermo-fluid parameters in a horizontal circular tube. In addition to studying the effects of these, both means on the heat transfer enhancement, an important discussion on their simultaneous effects are also presented. The effects of turbulator on the generation of swirl flow and also on the turbulent kinetic energy are shown and discussed for different nanoparticle volume fractions and different nanoparticle mean diameters. On one hand, the effect of inserting a turbulator on the thermal performance significantly dominates the effect of using a nanofluid. For instance, at the Z/D = 13.5, using combined nanofluid and turbulator the heat transfer coefficient 2.68 times augments while using only a turbulator it is 2.53 times enhanced. On the other hand, turbulator generates a radial gradient on the momentum forces. The latter significantly deteriorates the uniformity of the nanoparticles concentration. A higher nanoparticle concentration at the near-wall region where the sedimentation problem is taken placed is seen. Thus, it is recommended that nanofluid is not a suitable choice for simultaneous consideration with a propeller-type turbulator in such an application particularly when considering its physicochemical stability drawback. However, further experimental investigations must be carried out to verify such a conclusion and recommendation. It should be mentioned that agglomeration and sedimentation of nanoparticles on the wall surface have not been considered on the modeling of nanofluid physical properties.

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Abbreviations

a :

Acceleration

C f :

Skin friction coefficient (= τw/0.5 ρ V2in)

C p :

Specific heat (J kg−1 K−1)

D, d :

Diameter (m)

g :

Acceleration of gravity (ms−2)

h :

Convective heat transfer coefficient (Wm2 K−1), Enthalpy (J kg−1)

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy (m2 s2)

Nu :

Nusselt number (= hD/λ)

Pr :

Pandtl number (= μCp/λ)

R, r :

Tube radius (m)

Re :

Reynolds number (= VD/υ)

S :

Swirl number

T :

Temperature (K)

V :

Velocity (ms−1)

Z :

Axial coordinate (m)

α :

Diffusion coefficient (m2 s−1)

ϕ :

Volume fraction

δ :

Boundary layer thickness (nm)

ξ :

Vorticity magnitude (= ∇ × V)

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

μ :

Dynamic viscosity (Nsm−2)

υ :

Kinematic viscosity (m2 s−1)

θ :

Vane angle of turbulator

τ :

Shear stress (Nm−2)

λ :

Thermal conductivity (Wm−1 K−1)

ω :

Turbulent kinetic energy dissipation

ax:

Axial

c:

Central

f:

Primary phase

k:

The kth phase

in:

Inlet

m:

Mixture

p:

Particle, secondary phase

t:

Turbulent

w:

Wall

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

    A. Nikoozadeh, A. Behzadmehr & S. Payan

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  1. A. Nikoozadeh
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  2. A. Behzadmehr
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Nikoozadeh, A., Behzadmehr, A. & Payan, S. Numerical investigation of turbulent heat transfer enhancement using combined propeller-type turbulator and nanofluid in a circular tube. J Therm Anal Calorim 140, 1029–1044 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-019-08578-x

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