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Article history: In this paper, two empirical correlations for predicting the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic
Received 6 November 2009 viscosity of nanofluids, based on a high number of experimental data available in the literature, are pro-
Received in revised form 11 June 2010 posed and discussed. It is found that, given the nanoparticle material and the base fluid, the ratio between
Accepted 29 June 2010
the thermal conductivities of the nanofluid and the pure base liquid increases as the nanoparticle volume
Available online 3 August 2010
fraction and the temperature are increased, and the nanoparticle diameter is decreased. Additionally, also
the ratio between the dynamic viscosities of the nanofluid and the pure base liquid increases as the nano-
Keywords:
particle volume fraction is increased, and the nanoparticle diameter is decreased, being practically inde-
Nanofluids
Thermal conductivity
pendent of temperature. The ease of application of the equations proposed, and their wide regions of
Dynamic viscosity validity (the ranges of the nanoparticle diameter, volume fraction and temperature are 10–150 nm,
Empirical correlations 0.002–0.09 and 294–324 K for the thermal conductivity data, and 25–200 nm, 0.0001–0.071 and 293–
323 K for the dynamic viscosity data), make such equations useful by the engineering point of view,
for both numerical simulation purposes and thermal design tasks.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0196-8904/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2010.06.072
790 M. Corcione / Energy Conversion and Management 52 (2011) 789–793
Nomenclature
cf specific heat of the base fluid, J kg1 K1 Re Brownian-motion Reynolds number defined in Eq. (2)
D Brownian diffusion coefficient = kbT/(3plf dp), m2 s1 T temperature, K
df equivalent diameter of a base fluid molecule, m Tfr freezing point of the base fluid, K
dp diameter of the nanoparticle, m uB Brownian velocity of the nanoparticle, m s1
kb Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38066 1023 J K1
keff effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluid, Greek symbols
W m1 K1 u volume fraction of the nanoparticles
keff(M) effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluid accord- leff effective dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid, N m2 s
ing to Maxwell, W m1 K1 leff(B) effective dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid according to
kf thermal conductivity of the base fluid, W m1 K1 Brinkman, N m2 s
kp thermal conductivity of the nanoparticle, W m1 K1 lf dynamic viscosity of the base fluid, N m2 s
M molecular weight of the base fluid, kg mol1 qf mass density of the base fluid, kg m3
N Avogadro number = 6.022 1023 mol1 sD time required for a nanoparticle to move by a distance
Pr Prandtl number of the base fluid = cf lf/kf equal to its diameter, s
nanoparticle suspensions, only few models have recently been pro- dence, or the investigation procedure was not properly described
posed for describing the rheological behaviour of nanofluids, such in detail, or specific chemical dispersants/surfactants were used
as those developed by Koo [29], and Masoumi et al. [30]. Actually, in experiments, which could have significantly altered the ther-
as these models contain empirical correction factors based on an mo-mechanical behaviour of the suspension. Interestingly, after
extremely small number of experimental data, their region of these ‘‘spurious” results have been laid aside, which has brought
validity is someway limited. to the selection of data listed above, the degree of spreading among
Framed in this general background, the aim of the present paper the data has significantly reduced.
is to introduce and discuss two easy-to-apply empirical correlating By way of regression analysis, the following mean empirical
equations for predicting the effective thermal conductivity and dy- correlation with a 1.86% standard deviation of error is produced
namic viscosity of nanofluids, that, matching sufficiently well a (see Fig. 1):
high number of experimental data available in the literature, 10 0:03
keff T kp
may be usefully employed for numerical simulation purposes ¼ 1 þ 4:4Re0:4 Pr0:66 u0:66 ; ð1Þ
and thermal engineering design tasks. kf T fr kf
where Re is the nanoparticle Reynolds number, Pr is the Prandtl
2. Correlation for the effective thermal conductivity number of the base liquid, T is the nanofluid temperature, Tfr is
the freezing point of the base liquid, kp is the nanoparticle thermal
The equation proposed for the nanofluid effective thermal con- conductivity, and u is the volume fraction of the suspended
ductivity, keff, normalized by the thermal conductivity of the base nanoparticles.
fluid, kf, is derived from a wide variety of experimental data rela- In more detail, the nanoparticle Reynolds number is defined as
tive to nanofluids consisting of alumina, copper oxide, titania and qf uB dp
copper nanoparticles with a diameter in the range between Re ¼ ; ð2Þ
10 nm and 150 nm, suspended in water or ethylene glycol (EG).
lf
These data are extracted from the following sources: Masuda
Correlation data of the dimensionless effective thermal conductivity
et al. [31] for TiO2(27 nm) + H2O; Pak and Cho [32] for 1.5
TiO2(27 nm) + H2O; Lee et al. [33] for CuO(23.6 nm) + H2O, Water-based nanofluids.
Experimental data by Masuda et al. [31],
CuO(23.6 nm) + EG, Al2O3(38.4 nm) + H2O, and Al2O3(38.4 nm) + Pak and Cho [32], Lee et al. [33], Das et al. [35],
EG; Eastman et al. [34] for Cu(10 nm) + EG; Das et al. [35] for Chon et al. [36], Chon and Kihm [37],
CuO(28.6 nm) + H2O, and Al2O3(38.4 nm) + H2O; Chon et al. [36] 1.4 Xuan et al. [21], Murshed et al. [38],
Mintsa et al. [39], and
for Al2O3(47 nm) + H2O; Chon and Kihm [37] for Al2O3(47 nm Duangthongsuk and Wongwises [40].
and 150 nm) + H2O; Xuan et al. [21] for TiO2(27 nm) + H2O;
Murshed et al. [38] for Al2O3(80 nm) + H2O, and Al2O3(80 nm) +
1.3
EG; Mintsa et al. [39] for CuO(29 nm) + H2O; and Duangthongsuk
and Wongwises [40] for TiO2(21 nm) + H2O. The nanoparticle
volume fractions are in the range from 0.002 to 0.09, whereas
temperatures lie between 294 K and 324 K. 1.2
It seems worth pointing out that a certain dispersion of the
experimental data reported by different authors for the same type
of nanofluid is unavoidable. Indeed, in some cases the discrepan-
cies among the data available in the literature is of the order of 1.1 EG-based nanofluids.
50% or more, which may be ascribed to the different measurement Experimental data by
techniques used in experiments, as well as to the different degrees Lee et al. [33], Eastman et al. [34],
and Murshed et al. [38].
of dispersion/agglomeration obtained for the suspended nanopar-
ticles, and the accuracy of evaluation of their shape and size. In this 1.0
regard, it must be said that, in deriving the correlation proposed 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
Experimental data of the dimensionless effective thermal conductivity
here, some data-sets found in the literature have been discarded
because either the data were in a too sharp contrast with the main Fig. 1. Comparison of the empirical correlation Eq. (1) with the experimental data
body of the available results without any convincing physical evi- from literature.
M. Corcione / Energy Conversion and Management 52 (2011) 789–793 791
where qf and lf are the mass density and the dynamic viscosity of 3. Correlation for the effective dynamic viscosity
the base fluid, respectively, and dp and uB are the nanoparticle diam-
eter and mean Brownian velocity, respectively. Assuming absence As for the thermal conductivity, also the equation proposed for
of agglomeration, the nanoparticle Brownian velocity uB is calcu- the nanofluid effective dynamic viscosity, leff, normalized by the
lated as the ratio between dp and the time sD required to cover such dynamic viscosity of the base liquid, lf, is derived from a wide
distance, that, according to Keblinski et al. [41], is selection of experimental data available in the literature. These
2 3
data, relative to nanofluids consisting of alumina, titania, silica
dp plf dp and copper nanoparticles with a diameter ranging between
sD ¼ ¼ ; ð3Þ
6D 2kb T 25 nm and 200 nm, suspended in water, ethylene glycol (EG), pro-
pylene glycol (PG) or ethanol (Eth), are taken out of the following
where D is the Einstein diffusion coefficient and kb is the Boltz- sources: Masuda et al. [31] for TiO2(27 nm) + H2O, Pak and Cho
mann’s constant. Hence [32] for TiO2(27 nm) + H2O, Wang et al. [42] for Al2O3(28 nm) +
2kb T H2O, Das and co-workers [43,44] for Al2O3(38 nm) + H2O, Prasher
uB ¼ : ð4Þ et al. [45] for Al2O3(27 nm, 40 nm, and 50 nm) + PG, He et al. [46]
plf d2p for TiO2(95 nm) + H2O, Chen et al. [47,48] for TiO2(25 nm) + EG,
If we substitute Eq. (4) in Eq. (2), we obtain Chevalier et al. [49] for SiO2(35 nm, 94 nm, and 190 nm) + Eth,
Lee et al. [50] for Al2O3(30 nm) + H2O, and Garg et al. [51] for
2qf kb T Cu(200 nm) + EG. The nanoparticle volume fractions are in the
Re ¼ : ð5Þ
pl2f dp range from 0.0001 to 0.071. Temperatures lie between 293 K and
333 K.
Note that in the preceding equations all the physical properties The best-fit of the selected data enumerated above results in the
are calculated at the nanofluid temperature T. following mean empirical correlation with a 1.84% standard devia-
It is apparent that, once the nanoparticle material and the base tion of error (see Fig. 3):
fluid are assigned, the dimensionless effective thermal conductiv-
ity of the nanofluid, keff/kf, increases as u and T increase, and dp de-
leff 1
¼ ; ð7Þ
creases. Moreover, keff/kf depends marginally on the solid–liquid lf 1 34:87ðdp =df Þ0:3 u1:03
combination (as denoted by the small exponent of the particle–
where df is the equivalent diameter of a base fluid molecule, given
fluid thermal conductivity ratio), which, among other reasons,
by
may be due to the fact that most experimental data used to derive
!1=3
Eq. (1) are related to nanofluids with suspended oxide nanoparti- 6M
cles, whose thermal conductivities have same order of magnitude. df ¼ 0:1 ; ð8Þ
Npqf 0
In Fig. 2, the distributions of keff/kf vs. u that emerge from Eq. (1)
for Al2O3 + H2O, with dp and T as parameters, are compared with in which M is the molecular weight of the base fluid, N is the Avo-
the predictions of the Maxwell theory [6]: gadro number, and qf0 is the mass density of the base fluid calcu-
lated at temperature T0 = 293 K.
keff ðMÞ kp þ 2kf 2uðkf kp Þ
¼ : ð6Þ It may be observed that, once the base fluid is assigned, the
kf kp þ 2kf þ uðkf kp Þ
dimensionless effective dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid, leff/lf,
It may be noticed that the traditional Maxwell theory largely increases as dp decreases and u increases. Another interesting fea-
fails when applied to nanofluids. In fact, the Maxwell equation ture is that, within the approximation of Eq. (7), leff/lf is indepen-
tends either to under-estimate or to over-estimate the value of keff, dent of both the solid–liquid combination and the temperature, at
according as the nanoparticle diameter is small or large, respec-
tively, and the temperature of the suspension is high or low,
2.4
respectively. However, since the use of tiny nanoparticles is the
Correlation data of the dimensionless effective dynamic viscosity
Ethanol-based nanofluids.
rule, the adoption of Eq. (6) usually implies a more or less severe Experimental data by Chevalier et al. [49].
under-estimation of the nanofluid effective thermal conductivity. 2.2
Water-based nanofluids.
Experimental data by Masuda et al.
1.6 [31], Pak and Cho [32], Wang et al. [42],
2.0 Das et al. [43], Putra et al. [44],
Dimensionless effective thermal conductivity
dp = 20 nm, T = 324 K
He et al. [46], and Lee et al. [50].
1.5 dp = 100 nm, T = 324 K
1.8
dp = 20 nm, T = 294 K
1.4 dp = 100 nm, T = 294 K
1.6 PG-based nanofluids.
Maxwell equation
1.3 Experimental data by
Prasher et al. [45].
1.4
1.2
EG-based nanofluids.
Experimental data by
1.1 1.2 Chen et al. [47, 48],
and Garg et al.[51].
Al2O3 + H2O
1.0 1.0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4
Volume fraction Experimental data of the dimensionless effective dynamic viscosity
Fig. 2. Distributions of keff(M)/kf and keff/kf vs. u for Al2O3 + H2O, with dp and T as Fig. 3. Comparison of the empirical correlation Eq. (7) with the experimental data
parameters. from literature.
792 M. Corcione / Energy Conversion and Management 52 (2011) 789–793
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