Theoretical -Experimental study of factors affecting the thermal conductivity of SWCNT-CuO (25:75)/water nanofluid and challenging comparison with CuO nanofluids/water

Abstract

In this theoretical–experimental study, the basic parameters effect such as solid volume fraction (SVF or φ) and temperature on thermal conductivity (TC) of SWCNT-CuO (25:75)/water nanofluid (NF) has been investigated. The used NF in this study has been prepared and used for the first time. Monitoring and investigation of TC were done in T = 28 to 50˚C and SVF = 0.03 % to 1.15 %. The role of SVF effective in relative thermal conductivity (RTC) with changing of the temperature shows the importance of this factor in improving the RTC; results show that the better TC is T = 50 °C compared to other temperatures. Also, the maximum enhancement of TC compared to the base fluid (BF) (36 %) was observed at the mentioned temperature. In addition to the laboratory tests such as the margin of deviation (MOD) and RTC sensitivity within the range of −1.90 %<MOD < 1.42 % in the theoretical section, a new relationship was predicted using the response surface methodology (RSM). A comparison was also made between SWCNT-CuO (25:75)/water NF and other NFs at the same temperature and SVF, which shows the increased RTC of the NF after using SWCNT (25 %).

Keywords

• Thermal conductivity
• CuO
• SWCNT
• RSM
• Water base fluid
• Challenging comparison