Experimental investigation of temperature and volume fraction variations on the effective thermal conductivity of nanoparticle suspensions (nanofluids)

An experimental investigation was conducted to examine the effects of variations in the temperature and volume fraction on the steady-state effective thermal conductivity of two different nanoparticle suspensions. Copper and aluminum oxide, CuO and Al2O3, nanoparticles with area weighted diameters of 29 and 36nm, respectively, were blended with distilled water at 2%, 4%, 6%, and 10% volume fractions and the resulting suspensions were evaluated at temperatures ranging from 27.5to34.7°C. The results indicate that the nanoparticle material, diameter, volume fraction, and bulk temperature, all have a significant impact on the effective thermal conductivity of these suspensions. The 6% volume fraction of CuO nanoparticle/distilled water suspension resulted in an increase in the effective thermal conductivity of 1.52 times that of pure distilled water and the 10% Al2O3 nanoparticle/distilled water suspension increased the effective thermal conductivity by a factor of 1.3, at a temperature of 34°C. A two-factor linear regression analysis based on the temperature and volume fraction was applied and indicated that the experimental results are in stark contrast to the trends predicted by the traditional theoretical models with respect to both temperature and volume fraction. The available models are reviewed and the possible reasons for the unusually high effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids are analyzed and discussed.