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Thermo-hydraulic performance evaluation and comparison of SiC-MWCNT and Al2O3-MWCNT Non-Newtonian hybrid nanofluids using a heat exchanger equipped with helically corrugated tubes: an experimental study

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Abstract

The present investigation entails experimental evaluations for examining the heat transfer and flow attributes of hybrid nanofluids in a heat exchanger equipped with helically corrugated tubes (HCTs) under laminar flow conditions. The study includes evaluating the effect of various factors, such as the particle volume fraction, pseudoplastic behaviour of the fluid, the choice of the working fluid and geometric properties of the heat exchanger tube. The study specifically focuses on two types of hybrid nanofluids: SiC-MWCNT and Al2O3-MWCNT, with a water-ethylene glycol mixture. Three helically corrugated tubes have been introduced, namely HCT-1, HCT-2, and HCT-3. Corrugation pitches are chosen as 27.5, 12.1 and 9.5 mm and corrugation heights as 1.04, 1.57 and 1.97 mm. The findings indicate that, out of the different tubes employed, HCT-3 demonstrated the maximum rise in the Nusselt number, exhibiting a 61.3% increase compared to the smooth tube. This is due to increased corrugation height and reduced corrugated pitch which facilitates rapid mixture flow thereby improving its heat transfer rate. Both investigated hybrid nanofluids exhibit a transition from Newtonian to shear-thinning behaviour beyond a volume fraction of φ = 0.1% in a water-ethylene glycol mixture. Prior to this volume fraction, the nanofluids exhibit Newtonian behaviour. Both the nanofluids show a thermal performance factor (THPF) exceeding unity. Moreover, SiC-MWCNT hybrid nanofluid reveals the highest THPF of 1.97 for HCT-3 at a Reynolds number = 2000.

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Abbreviations

HCT:

Helically corrugated tube

THPF:

Thermal-hydraulic performance factor

MWCNT:

Multy-walled carbon nanotubes

SiC:

Silicon carbide

Al2O3 :

Aluminium oxide

ST:

Smooth tube

lpm:

Litre per minute

CTHE:

Concentric tube heat exchanger

L :

Length (mm)

d :

Diameter (mm)

p :

Pitch of HCT (mm)

e :

Corrugation height (mm)

P :

Pressure (Pa)

g :

Acceleration due to gravity (m s−2)

T :

Temperature/K

h :

Heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

t :

Temperature (°C)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

C p :

Specific heat capacity (J kg−1 K−1)

U :

Velocity (m s−1)

f :

Friction factor

n :

Power law index

m :

Mass (g)

Re:

Reynolds number

Nu:

Nusselt number

\(\dot{q}\) :

Heat flux (kW m−2)

w :

Mass ratio

A :

Surface area

τ :

Shear stress (Pa)

µ :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa s)

\(\dot{\gamma }\) :

Shear strain rate (s−1)

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

φ :

Volume fraction

c, i:

Cold fluid inlet

c, o:

Cold fluid outlet

h, i:

Hot fluid inlet

h, o:

Hot fluid outlet

nf:

Nanofluid

np:

Nanoparticle (Al2O3 or SiC)

bf:

Base fluid

hy:

Hybrid nanoparticle

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand, Srinagar, Garhwal, 246174, India

    Ayush Painuly, Niraj Kumar Mishra & Prabhakar Zainith

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  1. Ayush Painuly
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Contributions

AP contributed to execution of experiments and preparation of the draft of manuscript. NKM contributed to revision of draft manuscript, rectification, editing, and supervision. PZ contributed to revision of draft manuscript and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Niraj Kumar Mishra.

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Appendix 1: Uncertainty analysis

Appendix 1: Uncertainty analysis

The uncertainty in determining the friction factor is calculated as follows:

$$ \frac{\delta f}{f} = \sqrt {\left( {\frac{\delta P}{P}} \right)^{2} + \left( {\frac{\delta \rho }{\rho }} \right)^{2} + \left( {\frac{\delta U}{U}} \right)^{2} + \left( {\frac{{\delta A_{s} }}{{A_{s} }}} \right)^{2} + \left( {\frac{\delta L}{L}} \right)^{2} } $$
$$ = \sqrt {\left( {2.7845} \right)^{2} + \left( {0.11} \right)^{2} + \left( {0.6268} \right)^{2} + \left( {1.429} \right)^{2} + \left( {1.5754} \right)^{2} } $$
$$ = 3.7\% $$

The uncertainty in determining the Nusselt number is calculated as follows:

$$ \frac{{\delta {\text{Nu}}}}{{{\text{Nu}}}} = \sqrt {\left( {\frac{\delta h}{h}} \right)^{2} + \left( {\frac{\delta k}{k}} \right)^{2} } = \sqrt {\left( {2.7759} \right)^{2} + \left( {1.6186} \right)^{2} } = 3.3\% $$

Similarly, uncertainty associated with the Reynolds number can be calculated as:

$$ \frac{{\delta {\text{Re}}}}{{{\text{Re}}}} = \sqrt {\left( {\frac{\delta \rho }{\rho }} \right)^{2} + \left( {\frac{\delta \mu }{\mu }} \right)^{2} + \left( {\frac{\delta U}{U}} \right)^{2} } = \sqrt {\left( {0.11} \right)^{2} + \left( {0.1} \right)^{2} + \left( {0.6268} \right)^{2} } = 0.644\% $$

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Painuly, A., Mishra, N.K. & Zainith, P. Thermo-hydraulic performance evaluation and comparison of SiC-MWCNT and Al2O3-MWCNT Non-Newtonian hybrid nanofluids using a heat exchanger equipped with helically corrugated tubes: an experimental study. J Therm Anal Calorim 149, 3965–3980 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-024-12960-9

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