Numerical simulation on forced convective heat transfer of titanium dioxide/water nanofluid in the cooling stave of blast furnace

In this study, the numerical simulation on forced convective heat transfer of TiO2/water nanofluid in the cooling stave of blast furnace was investigated by the three-dimensional turbulent and steady incompressible flow of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The conservation equations were solved by using finite volume method (FVM) and the SIMPLEC algorithm scheme to examine the four conditions, namely, the cooling stave materials (Cu, Steel, and Iron); the mass flow rate (0.5-2.5 kg/s) of nanofluid; the volume fractions (0-3 vol%) of nanoparticles; and the aggregation of nanoparticles (a-4a, where a indicates the average primary particle size), at heat convective boundary condition. In particular, the results show that comparing the 3 vol% of nanoparticles dispersed in fluid with base liquid, thermal convection coefficient was raised from 16.3% to 49% by adjusting the velocity in terms of Reynolds number ranging from 56,800 to 75,700; and the Nusselt number was increased with the volume fraction of nanoparticles and mass flow rate of nanofluid because the probability of collision of nanoparticle was increased in the flowing base fluid, but decreased with increasing aggregation of nanoparticles in suspension due to raising the viscosity of nanofluid. Additionally, the ratio of Nusselt number to the friction factor and the correlations of nanofluid have been analyzed and developed in this work. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.