Comparison between single-phase and two-phases CFD modeling of laminar forced convection flow of nanofluids in a circular tube under constant heat flux

In this article, forced convection heat transfer with laminar and developed flow for water-Al2O3 nanofluid inside a circular tube under constant heat flux from the wall was numerically investigated using computational fluid dynamics method. Both single and two-phase models are accomplished for either constant or temperature dependent properties. For this study nanofluids with size particles equal to 100 nm and particle concentrations of 1 and 4 wt% were used. It is observed that the nanoparticles when dispersed in base fluid such as water enhance the convective heat transfer coefficient. The Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient of nanofluids were obtained for different nanoparticle concentrations and various Reynolds numbers. Heat transfer was enhanced by increasing the concentration of nanoparticles in nanofluid and Reynolds number. Also, a correlation based on the dimensionless numbers was obtained for the prediction the Nusselt number. The modeling results showed that the predicted values were in very good agreement with reference experimental data. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.