Simulation and experimental analysis of heat transfer characteristics in the plate type heat exchangers using TiO2/water nanofluid

Purpose The plate heat exchangers (PHE) with small size but large efficiency are compact types of heat exchangers formed by corrugated thin pressed plates, operating at higher pressures when compared to most other traditional exchangers. This paper aims to analyze heat transfer characteristics in the PHE experimentally and numerically. Design/methodology/approach Computational fluid dynamics analysis has been used to simulate the problem by using the ANSYS fluent 16 software. Also, the effect of using TiO2/water nanofluid as working fluid was investigated. TiO2/water nanofluid had 2% (Wt/Wt) nanoparticle content. To improve solubility of the TiO2 nanoparticles, Triton X-100 was added to the mixture. The results have been achieved in different working condition with changes in fluid flow rate and its temperature. Findings The obtained results showed that using TiO2/water nanofluid improved the overall heat transfer coefficient averagely as 6%, whereas maximum improvement in overall heat transfer coefficient was 10%. Also, theoretical and experimental results are in line with each other. Originality/value The most important feature which separates the present study from the literature is that nanofluid is prepared by using TiO2 nanoparticles in optimum size and mixing ratio with surfactant usage to prevent sedimentation and flocculation problems. This process also prevents particle accumulation that may occur inside the PHE. The main aim of the present study is to predict heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids in a plate heat exchanger. Therefore, it will be possible to analyze thermal performance of the nanofluids without any experiment.