Experimental studies on heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of Al2O3/water nanofluid under turbulent flow with spiraled rod inserts

An experimental investigation on the convective heat transfer and friction factor characteristics in circular tube with spiraled rod inserts (pitch = 15 mm, 30 mm) under turbulent flow with constant heat flux is carried out with distilled water and Al2O3/water nanofluids. For this purpose, Al2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized by using chemical precipitation method. The average size of particle is found to be 40.3 nm. The nanoparticles are then dispersed in distilled water to form stable suspension of Al2O3/water nanofluids with 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5% volume concentration of nanoparticles. It is found that (i) heat transfer enhancement is caused by suspending nanoparticles and becomes more pronounced with the increase of the particle volume concentration (ii) the Nusselt number for spiraled rod inserts under turbulent flow showed an increase of about 10–48% compared to the Nusselt numbers obtained with plain tube (iii) the isothermal pressure drop for turbulent flow with spiraled rod inserts were found to be between 2 and 8% higher than the plain tube.

► Synthesis of Al2O3 nanoparticles using chemical precipitation method.
► Preparation of Al2O3/water nanofluids with 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5% volume concentration.
► Investigation of heat transfer and friction factor in circular tube with spiraled rod inserts.
► Maximum increase in Nusselt number of 48% for spiraled rod inserts under turbulent flow.