DETERMINATION OF THE THERMAL BEHAVIOR OF WATER-BASED Fe3O4 NANOFLUID USING THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTY MODELS

Abstract

Nanofluids refer to the mixture containing homogeneously dispersed nano-sized particles in conventional base fluids. Recently, researchers have focused on analyzing the thermal performance of nanofluids, which are utilized as working fluids to raise the efficiency of thermal systems. To survey the heat transfer behavior of nanofluids, it is vital to determine the thermophysical characteristics. Researchers use different models to obtain the specific heat, viscosity, and thermal conductivity. In the present study, various correlations have been investigated in detail and summarized to predict the thermophysical properties of the Fe3O4/water nanofluid. It is aimed to use the correlations specified in calculating experimental heat transfer coefficient of water-based Fe3O4 nanofluid with weight concentration of 0.5%, which acts as the working fluid in the plate-type heat exchanger. The effects of different models used on the predicted value of the heat transfer coefficient of the nanofluid have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The results have been analyzed in detail by making comparisons between experimental data and correlations. The obtained results exhibited good agreement between experimental and correlations results.