International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Experimental study of Al2O3/water nanouid turbulent heat transfer

enhancement in the horizontal double pipes tted with modied
twisted tapes
Heydar Maddah a,b, Mostafa Alizadeh c, Nahid Ghasemi b,d,, Sharifah Radah Wan Alwi d
a

Department of Chemical Engineering, Shahrood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrood, Iran
Department of Chemistry, Science Faculty, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran
Department of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
d
Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
b
c

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 7 January 2014
Received in revised form 15 July 2014
Accepted 21 July 2014
Available online 13 August 2014
Keywords:
Nanouid
Heat exchanger
Twisted tape
Heat transfer enhancement

a b s t r a c t
In this study, uid ow of the Al2O3 nanouid in a horizontal double pipe heat exchanger tted with modied twisted tapes were experimentally studied under turbulent ow conditions. The experiments with
different geometrical progression ratio (GPR) of twists as the new modied twisted tapes and different
nanouid concentration were performed under similar operation condition. Pitch length of the proposed
twisted tapes and consequently the twist ratios changed along the twists with respect to the geometrical
progression ratio (GPR) whether reducer (RGPR < 1) or increaser (IGPR > 1). Regarding the experimental
data, utilization of RGPR twists together with nanouids tends to increase heat transfer and friction factor
by 12% to 52% and 5% to 28% as compared with the tube with typical twisted tapes (GPR = 1) and nanouid. Contrarily, performances were weakened by using for IGPR twists 0.6 to 0.92 and 0.75 to 0.95. The
thermal performances of the heat exchanger with nanouid and modied twisted tapes were evaluated
for the assessment of overall improvement in thermal behavior. Generalized correlations were developed
for the estimation of Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal performance factor under turbulent ow
conditions. Satisfactory agreement between the present correlations and obtained experimental data
validate the proposed correlations.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Understanding and improving heat transfer rate are the main
concerns at different industries, including chemical processes, heating and cooling processes and micro-sized applications. Several
techniques have been carried out to reduce operating cost. The most
signicant variables in reducing the size and cost of a heat transfer
equipments are heat transfer coefcient and pressure drop or ow
resistance. The main concern for the equipment design is to minimize the ow resistance while enhancing the heat transfer coefcients. Therefore, it is vital to develop techniques to enhance the
performance of heat exchangers. It has been commonly understood
that the performance of heat exchangers can be improved by many
augmentation techniques. Among them, utilizing nanouids and

Corresponding author at: Department of Chemistry, Science Faculty, Arak

Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran. Tel./fax: +98 8633670017.
E-mail addresses: n-ghasemi@iau-arak.ac.ir, nahid@cheme.utm.my (N. Ghasemi).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2014.07.059
0017-9310/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

passive augmentation techniques like inserting turbulence promoters are considered as the effective ones [1].
Nanouid, a suspension of nanoparticles in a continuous and
saturated liquid, has been found capable to get considerably higher
thermal conductivities than their respective base uids resulting to
better convective heat transfer coefcients [2]. The use of nanoparticles in the uids possess a number of potential advantages such
as long suspension stability, no clogging in systems and little
pressure drop. These benets are because nanoparticles are used
at very low concentrations and nanometer sizes. Types of nanoparticles and base uid have vital roles in the enhancement of thermal
conductivity of nanouids [3]. Although nanouids offer some
advantages, they may have high pressure drop penalty compared
to the base uid ows which is unfavorable in practical
applications.
Probably Choi [4] was the rst who suggested the addition of
solid particles in nanometric size into a base uid and reported
enhancement of thermal conductivity compared to base uid.
Many studies have conducted to evaluate the heat transfer

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

1043

Nomenclature
Cp
di
f
h
K
L
m
_
m
n
Nu
Pr
DP
Q
Re
T
TR
w
y

specic heat at constant pressure, J kg1 K1

inside diameter of the test tube, m
friction factor
heat transfer coefcient, W m2 K1
thermal conductivity of uid, W m1 K1
length of the test section, m
ow consistency index, s1
mass ow rate, kg s1
ow behavior index
Nusselt number
Prandtl number
pressure drop, Pa
heat transfer rate
Reynolds number
temperature, C
twist ratio
tape width, m
tape pitch length, m

q
l, N
g
V
/

uid density, kg m3

uid dynamic viscosity, kg s1 m1
thermal enhancement index
shear rate
volume concentration

Subscripts
b
bulk
nf
nanouid
np
nanoparticle
w
water
NE
non enhanced
E
enhanced
Abbreviation
GPR
geometrical progression ratio
IGPR
increaser geometrical progression ratio
RGPR
reducer geometrical progression ratio

Greek letters
d
tape thickness, m

performance and ow characteristics of various nanouids in both

the laminar and the turbulent ow regimes [425]. Results of these
studies proved that the inclusion of nanoparticles improves the
thermal conductivity compared to the conventional uid and
increases heat transfer rate with the nanoparticle concentration.
Although lots of investigations manifested the thermal conductivity contribution toward the enhancement in the convective heat
transfer coefcient of nanouids, other potentially affecting factors
described in some review articles [2627] must be considered.
Nguyen et al. [28] have performed extensive measurements of
dynamic viscosity for the Al2O3water nanouid considered hysteresis phenomenon concerns on the reliability of using nanouids
for heat transfer enhancement purposes. Hojjat et al. [21]
conducted an experiment on convective heat transfer of nonNewtonian nanouids with three kinds of nanouids under laminar ow regime and proposed a correlation to predict the Nusselt
number of non-Newtonian nanouids as a function of the Reynolds
and the Prandtl numbers.
The basic principle of the passive technique is to require no
direct employment of the external power and includes coated surface, rough surface and ow manipulation such as swirl ow and
modied ow [29]. Twisted tape is one of the most favorable
members of passive techniques utilized in many heat exchanging
systems. One of the most favorable passive techniques is generating swirl ow by insertion of a twisted tape because the tape is
inexpensive and can be easily employed to the existing system.
The effects of twisted tape insertion have been widely studied for
both experimental and numerical simulation works. The presence
of twisted tape directs toward redeveloping the thermal boundary
layer and inducing swirl ow leading to greater convective heat
transfer. To upgrade the existing compact heat exchanger, utilizing
twisted tape can provoke interests because of its low cost, ease of
maintenance and installation. However, heat transfer enhancement reected concurrent friction loss in the process [30]. Consequently pumping power may increase signicantly resulting in
performance factor at the same pumping power under unity and
ultimately the higher pumping cost high. Therefore, to achieve a
desired heat transfer rate in an existing heat exchanger at an
economic pumping power, the design of twisted tape with a proper
geometry is required to obtain a desired heat transfer rate in heat

exchangers. Lots of works have been carried out to investigate

effects of twisted tape insertion [3141]. Recently, some new types
of investigators developed utilization of twisted tapes along with
nanouids [4244]. Results of these investigations showed that
the heat transfer coefcient of nanouids was found to be higher
than the conventional uids and, compared to heat transfer coefcient in a plain tube under same operating conditions; further
enhancement was gained when twisted tape was inserted. For
instance, Fakoor-Pakdaman et al. [25] conducted an experimental
investigation on the thermo-physical properties of MWCNTs/heat
transfer oil nanouids and the overall performance of the vertical
helically coiled tubes. They reported that the application of nanouids and helically coiled tubes led to high overall performance
index of almost 6.4.
To the authors knowledge, although all the literatures have put
supreme efforts into enhancing the convective heat transfer in
double pipe heat exchangers, the thermohydraulic performance
and optimization of tubes with utilization of twisted tapes and
nanouids needs to give more attention. Since twisted tapes with
different geometries results in different thermohydraulic performances, it is interesting to assess the potential of the novel
designed and modied twisted tape with effective geometry to recommend recurrent change of swirl direction along the test tube,
which is expected to provide better mixing than the typical one.
In present research, the turbulent heat transfer and ow friction
behaviors in a double pipe heat exchanger tted with modied
tapes twisted which the pitch length varied along the twists and
Al2O3 nanouid as a working uid. All previous works have used
Newtonian uids as the base uid. In this study, the nanouid
was considered as a non-Newtonian for a wide range of Reynolds
number between 5000 and 21,000. Experiments were conducted
at nanoparticles concentration of 0.21, twists ratio of 310 and
geometrical progression ratio between 0.6 and 2. The experiments
with and without typical twisted tapes and nanouid were
performed under similar operation condition and validated with
existing well established correlations to verify experimental setup.
The thermophysical properties like thermal conductivity of Al2O3
nanouid was evaluated through experiments at different
conditions and validated. Using the experimental results, new correlations were proposed for the prediction of the Nusselt number,

1044

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

friction factor and thermal performances of the heat exchanger

with nanouid and modied twisted tapes.
2. Experimental
2.1. Sample preparation
In order to prepare the nanouids by dispersing the nanoparticles in a base uid, proper mixing, and stabilization of the particles
is required. Basically three different methods are available to attain
stability of nanouids. The methods are listed as follows: (1) acid
treatment of base uids (2) dispersants addition, (3) use of ultrasonic vibration. All of these techniques intend at changing the
surface characteristics of a system and suppressing settlement to
obtain stable suspensions. In the present study, Al2O3 nanoparticles of size 2022 nm were mixed with distilled water and stabilizers and then sonicated continuously by ultrasonic vibrator
(Toshiba, India) generating ultrasonic pulses of 100 W at
36 3 kHz for 5 h to break down agglomeration of the nanoparticles, prior to being used as the working uid. The desired volume
concentrations used in this study were between 0.2 and 1. The
PH value of the uids showed that solutions chemistry were nearly
neutral. For each test a new nanouid was prepared and used
immediately. To examine the stability of the nanouid dispersions,
the density of some nanouid samples was measured before and
after the experimental test. No signicant difference in measured
density was observed. The distribution of the primary Al2O3 nanoparticles at nano-scale can be observed under a transmission
electron microscope (TEM) and SEM . Fig. 1(a) shows the SEM
images of the Al2O3 produced when the current was set at 75 A.
The approximate particle sizes of the produced Al2O3 are measured

Fig. 1. (a) SEM photograph of Al2O3 particles (b) TEM photograph of AL2O3 particles.

directly from the SEM images by a Midfun Protech 2500 optical

measurement system. Furthermore, the fabricated nanoparticles
shown in Fig. 1 have good roundness and size uniformity.
Fig. 1(b) is the TEM image of the nanoparticle suspension. As
shown in Fig. 1(b), the Al2O3 nanouids prepared by the proposed
synthesis system indicate good nanoparticle dispersion with a
mean particle size of 2022 nm. For this experiment, the relation
of the current towards the nanoparticles can be analyzed by using
different currents.
2.2. Twisted tapes
The twisted tapes were made from aluminum sheet with tape
thickness (d) of 0.8 mm, and width (W) of 48 mm and length of
800 mm. The tape thickness of 0.8 mm was chosen to avoid an
additional friction in the system that might be occurred by the
thicker tape. To produce the modied twisted tapes, the typical
twists became changed by changing twist ratio and geometrical
progression ratio along the twist. Twist ratio is considered as twist
length (twist length) to tape width (w). Geometrical progression
ratio is the ratio of pitch lengths along the twist. The tapes were
prepared at seven different geometrical progression ratio (GPR)
of 2, 1.5, 1.2, 1, 0.85, 0.75 and 0.60, respectively. Whilst twists with
GPR less than one (reducer GPR) were shortened along their own
length (RGPR), twists with GPR greater than one (increaser GPR)
were lengthened along their own length (IGPR). The geometric
details of tapes are demonstrated in Fig. 2.
2.3. Heat transfer experimental set-up and procedure
The experiment to investigate heat transfer characteristic of
nanouid were carried out using the experimental apparatus as
shown in Fig. 3. It mainly consisted of a test section, receiving tanks
in which working uids are stored, heating and cooling system,
temperature, ow meter, rota-meter, pressure measurement
system and data acquisition system. The working uids were circulated through the loop by using variable speed pumps of suitable
capacity. The test section is of 1.5 m length with counter ow path
within horizontal double pipe heat exchanger in which hot nanouid was applied inside the tube while cooling water was directed
through the annulus. The inner tube was made of smooth copper
and has inner and outer diameter of 50 mm and 60.2 mm while
the annulus was stainless steel with inner diameter of 74.2 mm
and wall tube thickness of 6 mm. The section was thermally isolated in order to minimize heat losses to surrounding by plastic
tubes. 10 T-type thermocouples with 0.1 C precision were taped
along the inner tube wall at equally space to measure the

Fig. 2. Geometries (a) typical twisted tape (b) IGPR twisted tapes (c) RGPR twisted
tapes.

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

1045

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

circumferential temperature variation. All of the thermocouples

were calibrated before xing them. The inlet and outlet temperature of the uids were measured by calibrated RTDs. All of the
temperature data were recorded by data logger. To measure the
pressure drop across the test section, differential pressure transmitter was mounted at the pressure tab located at the inlet and
outlet of the section. The nanouid ow rate of were measured
by a magnetic ow meter which were placed at the entrance of
the test section.
For each test run, it was essential to record the data of the
temperature, volumetric ow rates and pressure drop across the
section at steady state conditions. Two storage tanks were made
of stainless steel at capacity of 50 lit to collect the uids leaving
the test section. The cooler tank was of 4.5 kw capacity with a
thermostat to keep water temperature constant. The provision
of thermostat helps to achieve steady state conditions faster.
The temperature of inlet water was maintained around 25 C
and the ow rate of the water was kept constant at 500 l/hr. Similar to the cooling tank, a 4 kw electronic heater with a thermostat was installed to maintain the temperature of the nanouid
constant at 40 C. Hot nanouid was pumped from the uid tank
through the inner tube included twisted tapes at different Reynolds number between 5000 and 21,000. To ensure the steady
state condition for each run, the period of around 2030 min
depending on Reynolds number and twisted tapes was taken
prior to the data record.
After the experimental setup was assembled, the reservoir
tanks lled with working uids. Initial experiments were conducted to validate the system. These have done with water and
Al2O3water nanouid, with and without twisted tapes. In addition, thermo physical properties of the nanouid were evaluated.

2.4. Thermophysical properties evaluation

The thermophysical properties (density, specic heat, viscosity
and thermal conductivity) measurements of the nanouid were
needed to apply for the practical applications. The appropriate correlations to evaluate density of nanouids were presented by Pak
and Cho [5] which were dened as follows:

qnf uqnp 1  uqbf

Specic heat was calculated using Xuan and Roetzels [45]

equation:

qCpnf uqCpnp 1  uqCpbf

Thermal conductivity at various volume concentration of Al2O3

nanouid was measured using quick thermal conductivity meter
QTM-500 apparatus supplied by KEM JAPAN under steady state.
The obtained experimental data of thermal conductivity was
compared with those estimated from well-known theoretical
models and depicted in Fig. 4. The models used to compute thermal
conductivity for comparison were:
(a) Maxwell model [42]:

 K w 3
1K
np
1 2u 2 K w 1
6
7
K np
6
 Kw  7
Kw4
5
1K
np
1  u K w 1
2

K nf

K np

where Knf is the thermal conductivity of the nanouid, Knp is the

thermal conductivity of the nanoparticles, and Kw is the thermal
conductivity of the base uid.

1046

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

In the case of viscosity, the nanouid employed in this study

showed non-Newtonian shear-thinning rheological behavior. For
these uids, it is conventional to dene the relationships between
the shear stress and shear rate in case of two-dimensional motion
as follows [50]:

dv x
dy

In which N is the non-Newtonian viscosity. For the Newtonian uid

N = l. Lots of empirical methods have been proposed for the nonNewtonian viscosity function N. The simplest empirical method
 is the two-parameter power law of Ostwaldde Waele model
for g
for a non-Newtonian shear thinning uid [50]:

(a)

mc_ n1

(b)
Fig. 4. (a) Comparison of the thermal conductivity between measured data and
calculated value from the other correlations. (b) Thermal conductivity as function of
temperature and volume fraction.

(b) HamiltonCrosser model which can be expressed as the

following form [46]:

K nf K w

K np n  1K w  un  1K w  K np
K np n  1K w uK w  K np


4

n 3=W
In which, n is shape factor and W is the sphericity dened as
surface area of a sphere with a volume equal to the average surface
area of the particle.
(c) Yu and Choi model which was dened as follows [47]:

K nf

"
#
K np 2K w  2u1 b3 K w  K np
K np 2K w u1 b3 K w  K np

In this correlation, b is the ratio of the nanolayer thickness to the

original particle radius as it normally assumed to be 0.1 to calculate
the thermal conductivity of the nanouid.
(d) Bruggeman model [48]:

K nf

 K w p
1
3u  1K np 2  3uK w
D
4
4

where m and n are constants characterizing the uid and depend on

the type of nanouid used. Here m is ow consistency index with
units of N m2. Sn and n is the ow behavior index (n). In general,
nanoparticle concentration cannot strongly affect the ow behavior
index where as it has direct relation with temperature and increases
when the temperature increases. It can be attributed to the fact that
increasing the temperature increases the intermolecular distance
and decreases the interactions between the molecules. Flow consistency index shows completely different behavior with temperature
and concentration variation. It increases when the temperature is
decreased and volume fraction is increased. The reason for the rst
case is related to the higher energy of molecules and intermolecular
distance at higher temperatures which causes the inuences of
molecules on each other decrease. The reason for the rst case
can be attributed to the interactions between nanoparticles and
water molecules [22]. The quantity c_ , here taken to be positive, is
called the shear rate. It is to be noted that for a shear thinning uid
the value of n is less than 1 [50].
DV3T rheometer (supplied by Brookeld) with accuracy of
0.1% of range and repeatability of 0.2% was employed to investigate rheological behavior of Al2O3. The constant temperature bath
has been connected to the rheometer control the temperature. At
least 8 measurements were made at desired concentrations and
an average value was calculated to evaluate the parameters. To
our knowledge, only Santra et al. [17] have presented experimentally the relation between the shear stress and shear rate for
Al2O3water nanouid. Using this data, Santra et al. [17] has calculated the values of m and n for 0.5% to 5% solid volume fraction.
Their results have been employed to validate obtained experimental results. The results were shown on Fig. 3 along with values
obtained from Santra et al. [17] study and Einsteins equation.
Einsteins equation for calculating viscosity, which is applicable
to spherical particles in volume fractions less than 5.0 vol.%, and
is dened as follows:

lrapp

lnf
1 2:5u
lw

10

2.5. Data reduction

"

 2
 #

K np
K np
D 3u  12
2  3u2 2 2 9u  9u2
Kw
Kw
(e) Effective medium theory introduced by Timofeeva et al.
[49]:

K nf 1 3uK w

In the present study, the Al2O3 nanoparticles dispersed in water

with volume concentrations of 0.3%, 0.5% and 0.7%. During the test,
cold water absorbed heat from hot nanouid. The heat transfer rate
from the heating uid was calculated from the following equation:

_ nf Cpnf T out  T in nf
Q nf m

11

_ nf is the
where Qnf is the heat transfer rate of the nanouid and m
mass ow rate of the nanouid. The heat transfer rate into the
cooling water was calculated from the following equation:

1047

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

Fig. 7. Validation of plain tube with water for friction factor.

(a)

(a)

(b)
Fig. 5. (a) Comparison of the viscosity between measured data and calculated value
from the other correlations. (b) Viscosity as a function of shear rate and volume
fraction.

(b)
Fig. 8. Validation of plain tube with twisted tapes and water: (a) Nusselt number
and (b) friction factor.

The average value of experimental heat transfer coefcient and

mean Nusselt number of the nanouid are evaluated as the
following:

Fig. 6. Validation of plain tube experimental data for Nusselt number.

_ w Cpw T out  T in w
Qw m

12

In this study, the supplied heat by the hot nanouid was found to be
3% higher than the received heat. This deviation can be interpreted
by convection and radiation heat loss along the test section. The
average heat transfer rate is:

Q av e

Q w Q nf
2

13

qav e
hnf 
T wall  T b;nf
Nunf

hnf D
K nf

14

15

where T wall is the mean wall surface temperatures measured by 10

stations lined between the inlet and outlet of the test tube.

1048

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

T wall

X T wall
10

16

In which Twall is the local wall temperature.

Tb,nf is mean bulk nanouid temperature:

T b;nf

T in T out
2

17

The ow regime can be dened from Reynolds number based on the

ow rate at the inlet of the test tube. For purely viscous nonNewtonian uid, the Reynolds number is dened as follows:

Re

n
qnf v 2n
nf di
mcn1

18

where vnf is the mean velocity of the nanouid and di diameter of

the tube.
Friction factor can be calculated from the following equation:

F nf

DPnf
L=di qnf v 2nf =2

19

where fnf is the friction factor of the nanouid, DPnf is the measured
pressure drop of the nanouid and L is the length of the tube.
The Prandtl number and Peclet number of the nanouid can be
evaluated from the following equations:

Prnf

Penf

mcn1 Cpnf
K nf

v nf dp
anf

hE
hNE

3.2. The viscosity of the nanouid

To validate the ATS apparatus to measure the viscosity of nanouid, the obtained results at different shear rates were compared
with Santra et al. [17] results. Fig. 5(a) shows the comparison of
evaluated data with presented prediction model. As the gure
indicates, the experimental results were in close agreement with
calculated values using Santra et al. [17] results. However, there
is a deviation between the measured values and predicted results
of Einstein model since viscosity the linear uid assumption is
not satised. As shown in Fig. 5(b), the results showed that the
viscosity of nanouids increases with increasing particle volume
concentration and also increases with decreasing shear rate.

20
3.3. Validation test with water

21

where dp is the diameter of the nanoparticles and anf is the thermal

diffusivity of the nanouid.
The performance evaluation analysis (g) is dened as the
enhanced convective heat transfer coefcient (hE) to the nonenhanced one (hNE) at the same pumping power.

concentrations under steady state. The experimental data were

shown in Fig. 4(a) along with the calculated values from stated
well-known correlations and models. As the gure indicates, the
results showed a good correspondence between the measured
value and Yo and Choi model. However, the evaluated experimental results were slightly greater than those of other prediction
models. Fig. 4(b) shows the experimental value of Al2O3 nanouid
thermal conductivity as a function of temperature and volume
concentration. It can be found that increasing temperature and
volume concentration of nanoparticles will increase the thermal
conductivity of nanouid considerably.

To verify system facility and procedure reliability, experiments

with water was conducted using empty tubes over targeting
Reynolds number in turbulent regime. Qualication of the heat

22

This parameter is relevant to operation cost and energy saving.

2.6. Uncertainty analysis
A detailed uncertainty analysis was made to estimate the errors
associated with experimenting using Coleman and Steele method.
The individual uncertainties related to different instruments
involved in the experiment were rst evaluated to calculate the
maximum possible error in Reynolds number, Nusselt number
and friction factor. The maximum uncertainties of Nusselt number,
Reynolds number and friction factor were found to be 0.26%,
0.14% and 0.42%, respectively. More Detailed on uncertainty
analysis can be found on Appendix A.

(a)

3. Results and discussion

Prior to the assessment of the Al2O3 nanouid and modied
twisted tapes performance, the experimental facilities reliability
were veried by conducting experiments with and without nanouid and twisted tape, then the results compared with the results
given by the well-known correlations under a similar condition.
3.1. The thermal conductivity of nanouids
In order to validate the experimental data of thermal conductivity obtained by QTM, the thermal conductivity of nanouid was
measured at temperature 35 C and various particle volume

(b)
Fig. 9. Validation of plain tube with twisted tapes and nanouid: (a) Nusselt
number and (b) friction factor.

1049

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

transfer performance of the system was validated by comparing

the results with those obtained from the Dittus and Boelter
equation [51] for water. The correlations was dened as follows:
Dittus and Boelter equation:

Nu 0:04Re0:75 Pr0:4

23

To compare friction factor Blasius correlation [50] for water was

employed:
Blasius correlation:

f 0:316Re0:25

24

As displayed in Figs. 6 and 7, the data obtained from experiments

gave reasonably good correspondence with those from mentioned
correlations for both Nusselt number and friction factor for turbulent ow regime. The deviations of the evaluated experimental data
from the correlation values fall within 5% for Nusselt number and
1% for friction factor in case of empty water.
3.4. Validation test with twisted tapes
To verify the experimental procedure with twisted tape inserts,
the tests with empty water and Al2O3 nanouid were conducted at
two different twist ratio and results compared with the estimating

correlation results as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The verifying correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor of single phase like
water were proposed by Manglik and Bergles [32] for the plain
tube tted with twisted tapes under turbulent ow as the following form:

!
0:769
1 y

Nu

00

10:8 0

p A @
p  4d
p
di

6
B
 40:023Re0:8 Pr0:4 @@

 10:2 13
2d
d
7
 i A C
A5 25

p2

4d
di

1
 y 2 !0:74
A
f @1 2:06 1 2 w

11:75 0

6
 40:079Re0:25 @

p A
p  4d
di

 11:25 3
2d
d
 i A 7
5

p2
p

4d
di

26

Experimental Nusselt number and friction factor of nanouid for

ow in a tube with twisted tapes inserts were compared with the
predicted values given by Syam Sundar and Sharma [42]

(a)

(b)
Fig. 10. Effect of geometrical progression ratio on Nusselt number (a) RGPR (b) IGPR.

1050

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

correlations with the assumption that nanouid behaves as single

phase uid:

3.5. Effect of modied twisted tapes


0:06281
H
Nu 0:0366Re0:8204
Pr0:4
0:001
0:001 u0:04704
nf
nf
D

The inuence of modied twisted tapes with varying twist ratio

on heat transfer in terms of Nusselt number was presented in
Fig. 10. For all the case, general trend found in Fig. 10 was that
Nusselt number was increased with the rise of Reynolds number.
This inuence was because of turbulence intensity which leads to
the heat transfer improvement. At the same Reynolds number, the
results revealed the increase in heat transfer rate with small geometry progression ratio (RGPR) and vice versa. Small geometry progression ratios (GPR) will generate tapes with pitch length and
twist ratio which reduced along the tapes. Justied by the data
trend, decreasing twist ratios along the tape can raise swirl ow
intensity which promote mixing of uid. Beside this, additional
turbulence along the tube wall resulted in efcient reduction of
boundary layer in the vicinity of heat transfer sources and thus
yielding to a great transfer performance. Moreover, the application
of reducing GPR twists produced an increase in the residence time
of ow as a result of longer ow path. Therefore extending duration of heat exchanging between the heat reassures (tube wall)
and uid gave a superior heat transfer improvement rather than
increasing GPR tapes.
At a given Reynolds number and GPR ratios, the heat transfer
coefcient of nanouids was enhanced with a raise in the

27

0:004815
H
f 2:068Re0:04330
1 u0:01 1
nf
D

28

As depicted in Figs. 8 and 9, the data obtained from experiments

showed satisfactory agreement with those from mentioned
correlations for water but slightly greater the estimated values for
nanouids with twisted tapes. The deviations of the evaluated
experimental data from the correlation values fall within 6.2% for
Nusselt number and 12% for friction factor in case of water with
twisted tapes, and within 20% for Nusselt number and 22% for
friction factor in case of Al2O3 nanouid in a tube tted with twisted
tapes.
The effect of inclusion of inserting twisted tapes in the ow
path can be understood in comparing Figs. 8 with 6 and 9 with
7. It can be observed that the heat transfer associated by the
application of nanouid and twisted tape is more effective than
those offered by the individual techniques.

(a)

(b)
Fig. 11. Effect of geometrical progression ratio on friction factor (a) RGPR (b) IGPR.

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

nanoparticle concentration. In addition to the thermal conductivity

enhancement due to the nano particles presence, pseudo-plastic
behavior of the nanouid would be responsible for improving heat
transfer. Increasing the shear rate will decreases apparent viscosity. Higher shear rate near the wall tends to decrease the apparent
viscosity of the nanouid, which results in preventing the development of thermal boundary layers close to the transfer surfaces and
therefore will be associated with enhanced heat transfer rate.
Collision and random motion of nano-particles and particles movement from high to low shear rate region were other contributing
factors in heat transfer enhancement of nanouids.
Effect of modied twisted tapes on friction factor characteristics
was presented in Fig. 11 at several nano particle concentration and
GPR.
As seen, friction factor considerably increase with decreasing
Reynolds number. Similar to the Nusselt number as Fig. 10
showed, friction factor tended to increase with using reducing
GPR tapes. This is owing to the extent of turbulence due to the
presence of shortening pitch length tapes and the increase of
surface contact area which lead to higher viscous loss nearer
the tube wall. It is noteworthy that the higher nanouid concentration may provide penalty in pressure drop due to the rise of
working uid viscosity.

1051

The heat transfer enhancement factor, indicating the practical

benets of enhancing devices usage, was evaluated from Eq. (29)
at the same pumping power. The variation of thermal performance
factor with Reynolds number was depicted in Fig. 12. As the gure
shows, the factor was decreased with increasing Reynolds number.
At the same Reynolds number, the reducing GPR twisted tapes provided higher performance factor than the typical and increasing
GPR tapes around 20%. Declining performance factor with increasing Reynolds number implied that the use of reducing GPR tapes is
viable to save the energy. It must be noted that the performance
factor was increased with a rise in nanoparticles concentration.
This means that application of both nanouid and modied
twisted tapes results in higher thermal performance than others.
Over the range considered, the factors were in the range between
1.5 and 2.56.
3.6. Correlations
The empirical correlations developed for the present experimental results of the nanouid ow in double pipe heat exchanger
equipped with modied twisted tapes in a range of Reynolds
number between 5000 and 25,000. The validation of the correlations for Nusselt number, friction factor and performance factor

(a)

(b)
Fig. 12. Variations of thermal enhancement index with Reynolds number for (a) RGPR (b) IGPR.

1052

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

(a)

(b)

(c)
Fig. 13. Validation of empirical correlations for (a) Nusselt number. (b) Friction factor. (c) Thermal performance.

1053

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

was made by comparing predicted data of the correlations with the

experimental data and evaluating errors.
The empirical correlations from experimental results and using
nonlinear regression for Nusselt number and friction factor are as
the following:


Nu 0:056Re0:72 Pr0:4 1 pu2:75 1

f 0:375Re0:24 1 3pu0:6 1

p 1:1
2TR


p
1:4

TR

GPR0:75

GPR0:35

No

Name of
instrument

Range of
instrument

Variable
measured

%
Uncertainty

Thermocouple

Wall temperature

0.1 C

29

2
3
3

Mass ow rate, m
Mass ow rate, m
Pressure drop

0.1
0.5
0.075

30

Flow meter
Rotameter
Pressure
measurement
Digitizer

60 to
1370 C
110,000 l
1600 L
010 bar

To assess the equation, the relation between volumetric ow rate

and pressure drop between the empty exchanger (not enhanced)
and tube tted with tapes (enhanced) can be written as follow:

V_ DPE V_ DPNE

Table A-1
Uncertainties of instruments and properties.

31

5
6

RTD PT 100
thermocouple
QTM-500

7
8

DV3T rheometer
Properties

200 to
500 C
0.02312 W/
mk
0.1250 RPM
Density,
specic heat

Temperature
indicator
Temp. of inlet/
Outlet ow
Thermal
conductivity
Viscosity

0.5 C
0.3
1.0
0.1

The above equation can be rewritten in terms of Reynolds number

and friction factor:





3
3
fRe
fRe
E

32

NE

Applying Eqs. (25), (31), the Reynolds number of empty tube can be
expressed as function of enhanced tube Reynolds number:


ReNE 1:0611 3pu0:281 1

p
TR

1:4

0:363

GPR0:127 Re1:01
E

33

Using Eqs. (24), (25), (31) and (33), the thermal factor can be
expressed as follow:

p 1:1
1 2TR
1 pu2:75
GPR0:653
0:272
0:163
1

3
p
u

p
1 TR1:4

g 1:4Re0:04 

34

Fig. 13 shows the comparison of experimental results with obtained

values from correlations.
4. Conclusion
An experimental study of Al2O3water nanouid turbulent ow
through double pipe heat exchanger quipped with modied
twisted tapes has been performed for a range of Reynolds number
(5000 to 21,000) with a wide range of solid volume fraction (0.2%
to 0.9%). The behavior of nanouid has been considered as nonNewtonian in nature. The mathematical concept of Geometrical
Progression was used to prepare modied twisted tapes. Pitch
length of the proposed twisted tapes and consequently the twist
ratios changed along the twists with respect to the geometrical
progression ratio (GPR) whether reducer (RGPR < 1) or increaser
(IGPR > 1). The inuences of the geometrical progression ratio,
twist ratio and volume concentration on the heat transfer rate
and friction factor characteristics have also been investigated. A
geometrical progression ratio shared with a twisted tape has
signicant effects on the heat transfer enhancement and friction
factor. Depending on the geometrical progression ratio, the heat
transfer rate and friction factor in the double pipe heat exchanger
with twisted tape and nanouids, were respectively 1.03 to 4 and
1.4 to 2.8 times of those in the plain tube. The thermal
performances were calculated to assess the overall improvement
in thermal behavior. The empirical correlations for the Nusselt
number, friction factor and thermal performance factor based on
the present experimental data were also presented.

Table A-2
Uncertainties of parameters and variables.

1
2
3

Variable name

% Uncertainty error

Reynolds number, Re
Nusselt number, Nu
Friction factor, f

1.4
0.26
0.42

Appendix A. Uncertainty analysis

The uncertainty table for different instruments used in experiment is given in Table A-1. The maximum possible error for the
parameters involved in the analysis are estimated and summarized
in Table A-2. It must be noted that the estimated uncertainties are
based on the manufacturers specications and not on a calibration
of the instruments.
Reynolds number, Re:

_ U Re
4m
Re
;

pDl Re

 2  2 !1=2
Ul
U m_

1:4%
_
l
m

Heat transfer rate of the nanouid:

_ nf cpnf T out  T in nf ;
Q nf m
!

2 

U
2 1=2
U m_
UQ
U cpnf 2
T out T in
nf
nf

cp
T out T in
0:17%
_
m
Q
nf

nf

nf

Heat transfer rate of the water:

_ w cpw T out  T in w ;
Qw m
 2 


 !1=2
U cpw 2
U T out T in 2
UQ w
Uw

0:5%
_w
Qw
cpw
T out  T in
m
Nusselt number, Nu:

Nu

hD
;
K

U Nu

Nu

 2  2 !1=2
Uh
UK

0:26%
h
K

Friction factor, f:

DP
f
 2  ;
qV
l
D

Uf


2  2 
2 !1=2
Uq
U DP
2U V

0:42%
DP
q
V

References
Conict of interest
None declared.

[1] A.E. Bergles, Techniques to augment heat transfer, in: W.M. Roshenow et al.
(Eds.), Hand Book of Heat Transfer Applications, second ed., McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1985.

1054

H. Maddah et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 78 (2014) 10421054

[2] K. Khanafer, K. Vafai, M. Lightstone, Buoyancy driven heat transfer

enhancement in a two-dimensional enclosure utilizing nano-uids, Int. J.
Heat Mass Transfer 46 (2003) 36393653.
[3] W. Duangthongsuk, S. Wongwises, Heat transfer enhancement and pressure
drop characteristics of TiO2water nanouid in a double-tube counter ow
heat exchanger, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 52 (2009) 20592067.
[4] S.U.S. Choi, Enhancing thermal conductivity of uid with nanoparticles, in:
D.A. Siginer, H.P. Wang (Eds.), Developments and Applications of NonNewtonian Flows, FED-V.231/MD-V.66, ASME, New York, 1995, pp. 99105.
[5] B.C. Pak, Y.I. Cho, Hydrodynamic and heat transfer study of dispersed uids
with submicron metallic oxide particles, Exp. Heat Transfer 11 (1998) 151
170.
[6] S.U.S. Choi, Z.G. Zhang, W. Yu, F.E. Lockwood, E.A. Grulke, Anomalous thermal
conductivity enhancement in nanotube suspensions, Appl. Phys. Lett. 79 (14)
(2001) 22522254.
[7] Q. Li, Y. Xuan, Convective heat transfer and ow characteristics of Cuwater
nanouid, Sci. China E 45 (2002) 408416.
[8] Y. Xuan, Q. Li, Investigation on convective heat transfer and ow features of
nanouids, ASME J. Heat Transfer 125 (2003) 151155.
[9] D. Wen, Y. Ding, Experimental investigation into convective heat transfer of
nanouids at the entrance region under laminar ow conditions, Int. J. Heat
Mass Transfer 47 (2004) 51815188.
[10] S.M.S. Murshed, K.C. Leong, C. Yang, Enhanced thermal conductivity of TiO2
water based nanouids, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 44 (2005) 367373.
[11] S.Z. Heris, S.G. Etemad, M.N. Esfahany, Experimental investigation of oxide
nanouids laminar ow convective heat transfer, Int. Commun. Heat Mass
Transfer 33 (2006) 529535.
[12] S.Z. Heris, M.N. Esfahany, S.G. Etemad, Experimental investigation of
convective heat transfer of Al2O3/water nanouid in circular tube, Int. J. Heat
Fluids Flow 28 (2) (2007) 203210.
[13] A.K. Santra, S. Sen, N. Chakraborty, Study of heat transfer augmentation in a
differentially heated square cavity using copperwater nanouid, Int. J. Therm.
Sci. 47 (2008) 11131122.
[14] C.T. Nguyen, G. Roy, C. Gauthier, N. Galanis, Heat transfer enhancement using
Al2O3water nanouid for electronic liquid cooling system, Appl. Therm. Eng.
28 (2007) 15011506.
[15] B.H. Chun, H.U. Kang, S.H. Kim, Effect of alumina nanoparticles in the uid on
heat transfer in double-pipe heat exchanger system, Korean J. Chem. Eng. 25
(5) (2008) 966971.
[16] W. Duangthongsuk, S. Wongwises, Effect of thermophysical properties models
on the prediction of the convective heat transfer coefcient for low
concentration nanouid, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 35 (2008) 1320.
[17] A.K. Santra, S. Sen, N. Chakraborty, Study of heat transfer due to laminar ow
of copperwater nanouid through two isothermally heated parallel plates,
Int. J. Therm. Sci. 48 (2009) 391400.
[18] P.K. Namburu, D.K. Das, K.M. Tanguturi, R.S. Vajjha, Numerical study of
turbulent ow and heat transfer characteristics of nanouids considering
variable properties, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 48 (2009) 290302.
[19] I. Gherasim, G. Roy, C.T. Nguyen, D. Vo-Ngoc, Experimental investigation of
nanouids in conned laminar radial ows, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 48 (2009) 1486
1493.
[20] W. Duangthongsuk, S. Wongwises, An experimental study on the heat transfer
performance and pressure drop of TiO2water nanouids owing under a
turbulent ow regime, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 334344.
[21] M. Hojjat, S.Gh. Etemad, R. Bagheri, J. Thibault, Convective heat transfer of nonNewtonian nanouids through a uniformly heated circular tube, Int. J. Therm.
Sci. 50 (2011) 525531.
[22] M. Hojjat, S.Gh. Etemad, S.G.R. Bagheri, J. Thibault, Rheological characteristics
of non-Newtonian nanouids: experimental investigation, Int. Commun. Heat
Mass Transfer 38 (2011) 144148.
[23] H. Heidary, M.J. Kermani, Heat transfer enhancement in a channel with
block(s) effect and utilizing nano-uid, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 57 (2012) 163171.
[24] N. Pelevic, Th.H. van der Meer, Numerical investigation of the effective
thermal conductivity of nano-uids using the lattice Boltzmann model, Int. J.
Therm. Sci. 62 (2012) 154159.
[25] M. Fakoor-Pakdaman, M.A. Akhavan-Behabadi, P. Razi, An empirical study on
the pressure drop characteristics of nanouid ow inside helically coiled
tubes, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 65 (2013) 206213.
[26] X.Q. Wang, A.S. Mujumdar, Heat transfer characteristics of nanouids: a
review, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 46 (2007) 119.
[27] L. Godson, B. Raja, D. Mohan Lal, S. Wongwises, Enhancement of heat transfer
using nanouids an overview, Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 14 (2009)
629641.

[28] C.T. Nguyen, F. Desgranges, N. Galanis, G. Roy, T. Mar, S. Boucher, Viscosity

data for Al2O3water nanouid hysteresis: is heat transfer enhancement
using nanouids reliable?, Int J. Therm. Sci. 47 (2008) 103111.
[29] S.W. Chang, Y.J. Jan, J.S. Liou, Turbulent heat transfer and pressure drop in tube
tted with serrated twisted tape, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 46 (2007) 506518.
[30] K. Wongcharee, S. Eiamsa-ard, Friction and heat transfer characteristics of
laminar swirl ow through the round tubes inserted with alternate clockwise
and counter-clockwise twisted-tapes, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 38
(2011) 348352.
[31] R.M. Manglik, A.E. Bergles, Heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for
twisted tape inserts in isothermal tubes. Part I Laminar ows, Trans. ASME,
J. Heat Transfer 115 (1993) 881889.
[32] R.M. Manglik, A.E. Bergles, Heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for
twisted-tape inserts in isothermal tubes. Part II: Transition and turbulent
ows, Trans. ASME, J. Heat Transfer 115 (1993) 890896.
[33] P.K. Sarma, T. Subrahmanyam, P.S. Kishore, V. DharmaRao, S. Kakac, A new
method to predict convective heat transfer in a tube with twisted tape inserts
for turbulent ow, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 41 (2002) 955960.
[34] P.K. Sarma, P.S. Kishore, V. DharmaRao, T. Subrahmanyam, A combined
approach to predict friction coefcients a d convective heat transfer
characteristics in A tube with twisted tape inserts for a wide range of Re
and Pr, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 44 (2005) 393398.
[35] P. Naphon, Heat transfer and pressure drop in the horizontal double pipes with
and without twisted tape insert, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 33 (2006)
166175.
[36] S. Eiamsa-ard, C. Thianpong, P. Eiamsa-ard, P. Promvonge, Thermal
characteristics in a heat exchanger tube tted with dual twisted tape
elements in tandem, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 37 (2010) 3946.
[37] S. Eiamsa-ard, C. Thianpong, P. Eiamsa-ard, Turbulent heat transfer
enhancement by counter/co-swirling ow in a tube tted with twin twisted
tapes, Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci. 34 (2010) 5362.
[38] S. Eiamsa-ard, P. Seemawute, K. Wongcharee, Inuences of peripherally-cut
twisted tape insert on heat transfer and thermal performance characteristics
in laminar and turbulent tube ows, Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci. 34 (2010) 711719.
[39] S. Eiamsa-ard, P. Promvonge, Performance assessment in a heat exchanger
tube with alternate clockwise and counter-clockwise twisted-tape inserts, Int.
J. Heat Mass Transfer 53 (2010) 13641372.
[40] J. Guo, A. Fan, X. Zhang, W. Liu, A numerical study on heat transfer and friction
factor characteristics of laminar ow in a circular tube tted with centercleared twisted tape, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 50 (2011) 12631270.
[41] X. Zhang, Z. Liu, W. Liu, Numerical studies on heat transfer and ow
characteristics for laminar ow in a tube with multiple regularly spaced
twisted tapes, Int. J. Therm. Sci. 58 (2012) 157167.
[42] L. Syam Sundar, K.V. Sharma, Turbulent heat transfer and friction factor of
Al2O3 nanouid in circular tube with twisted tape inserts, Int. J. Heat Mass
Transfer 53 (2010) 14091416.
[43] K.P. Suresh, P. Venkitaraj, M. Selvakumar, Chandrasekar, A comparison of
thermal characteristics of Al2O3/water and CuO/water nanouids in transition
ow through a straight circular duct tted with helical screw tape inserts, Exp.
Therm. Fluid Sci. 39 (2012) 3744.
[44] K. Wongcharee, S. Eiamsa-ard, Heat transfer enhancement by using CuO/water
nanouid in corrugated tube equipped with twisted tape, Int. Commun. Heat
Mass Transfer 39 (2012) 251257.
[45] Y. Xuan, W. Roetzel, Conceptions for heat transfer correlation of nanouids,
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 43 (2000) 37013707.
[46] R.L. Hamilton, O.K. Crosser, Thermal conductivity of heterogeneous two
component systems, I&EC Fundam. 1 (3) (1962) 187.
[47] W. Yu, S.U.S. Choi, The role of interfacial layers in the enhanced thermal
conductivity of nanouids: a renovated Maxwell model, J. Nanoparticle Res. 5
(2003) 167.
[48] D.A.G. Bruggeman, Berechnung verschiedener physikalischer konstanten von
heterogenen substanzen. I: Dielektrizitatskonstanten und Leitfahigkeiten der
Mischkorper aus Isotropen Substanzen, Ann. Phys. 14 (1935) 636664.
[49] E.V. Timofeeva, A.N. Gavrilov, J.M. McCloskey, Y.V. Tolmachev, Thermal
conductivity and particle agglomeration in alumina nanouids: experiment
and theory, Phys. Rev. 76 (2007). E76, 061203.
[50] R.B. Bird, W.E. Stewai, E.N. Lightfoot, Transport Phenomena, second ed., John
Wiley & Sons, 2002.
[51] F.P. Incropera, P.D. Witt, T.L. Bergman, A.S. Lavine, Fundamentals of Heat and
Mass Transfer, John-Wiley & Sons, 2006.