Natural convection of nano-fluids

Fluids with nano size solid particles suspended in them have been given the name nano-fluid which in recent studies have shown tremendous promise as heat transfer fluids. However, before suggesting such fluids for applications a thorough knowledge of physical mechanism of heat transfer in such fluids is wanted. The present study deals with one such aspect of natural convection of nano fluids inside horizontal cylinder heated from one end and cooled from the other. An apparently paradoxical behaviour of heat transfer deterioration was observed in the experimental study. Nature of this deterioration and its dependence on parameters such as particle concentration, material of the particles and geometry of the containing cavity have been investigated. The fluid shows characters distinct from that of common slurries.