Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Non-Newtonian Nanofluids Flowing in Shell Side of Helical Baffled Heat Exchanger Combined with Elliptic Tubes

Abstract

In this paper, an aqueous solution of xanthan gum (XG) at a weight fraction as high as 0.2% was elected as the non-Newtonian base liquid, the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) dispersed into non-Newtonian XG aqueous at different weight factions of MWCNTs was prepared. Convection heat transfer of non-Newtonian nanofluids in the shell side of helical baffled heat exchanger combined with elliptic tubes has been investigated experimentally and numerically using single-phase flow model. Results showed that the enhancement of the convective heat transfer coefficient increases with an increase in the Reynolds number and the nanoparticle concentration. For nanofluids with 0.2 wt %, 0.5 wt % and 1.0 wt % MWCNTs, the Nusselt number, respectively, increases by 11%, 21% and 35% on average at the same Reynolds number, while the comprehensive thermal performance factors are 3%–5%, 15%–17% and 24%–26% higher than that of base fluid at the same volume rate. A remarkable heat transfer enhancement can be obtained by adding MWCNTs into XG aqueous solution based on thermal resistance analysis. Correlations have been suggested for the shell-side Nusselt number and friction factor of non-Newtonian nanofluids in the helical baffled heat exchanger with elliptic tubes. Good agreements existed between corrections and experimental data.

Keywords

• non-Newtonian fluid
• nanofluids
• elliptic tube
• numerical simulation
• heat transfer