Experimental Study of Laminar Convective Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Cuprous Oxide/Water Nanofluid Inside a Circular Tube

Abstract

Laminar convective heat transfer enhancement of cuprous oxide (Cu2O)/water nanofluid flowing through a circular tube was investigated experimentally in the present work. A continuous closed loop was designed to measure heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop associated with the flow of Cu2O/water nanofluid over a wide range of laminar flow conditions. Comparison of the nanofluid experimental results with those of pure water have shown significant enhancement for heat transfer coefficients. On average, a 10% increase in heat transfer coefficient was observed with 16% penalty in pressure drop.