Analysis of thermophysical characteristic of SiO2/water nanofluid and heat transfer enhancement with field synergy principle

Nanofluid is one of the most popular and promising heat-transfer fluids. SiO2/water nanofluid suspension stability and their thermophysical characteristics were investigated. Specifically, the suspension stability of the nanofluid was characterized using a Malvern Zetasizer Nano Instrument. The thermal conductivity of the nanofluid was studied at different temperatures and particle sizes. The results indicated that the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid with a mass fraction of 5% increased to 6.8% compared with the water based fluid. Meanwhile, the mean field synergy angle of the spiral microchannel radiator with different properties of the nanofluid was simulated based on different structure microchannel sizes to evaluate the heat transfer performance according to the velocity and the temperature field. The results indicated that the mean field synergy angle was proportional to the nanoparticle size while inversely to the mass fraction of the nanofluid, and their strengthening heat transfer effect was enhanced. The structure size of the microchannel was one of the important effect factors on the mean field synergy angle. Published by AIP Publishing.