Experimental studies on heat transfer of alumina/water nanofluid in a shell and tube heat exchanger with wire coil insert

The Heat transfer characteristics of Alumina/water nanofluid in a STHE with the aid of coil insert is being studied. Investigations were made on the effects of Peclet number and the effect of the Alumina/water nanofluid concentration on the heat transfer and pumping power characteristics. An increase in the volume concentration of the nanoparticles in the base fluid caused a significant enhancement in the overall heat transfer characteristics compared to that of water. When a wire coil insert was used, further increment in overall heat transfer coefficient was found for a particular peclet number. The superior thermal characteristics of nanofluid obtained with the aid of coil insert may be attributed to the thermal dispersion effect, which caused the temperature distribution to flatten and as a result the temperature difference between the fluid and tube wall steepened resulting in the increase of heat transfer.