Pressure drops and friction factor analysis of a Double Pipe Heat Exchanger Using Iron Oxide Fe2O3 Nanofluid

Abstract

Heat exchangers are widely employed in various industrial applications due to their ability to facilitate efficient heat transfer. This study investigates the performance analysis, friction factor, and pressure drop of a double-pipe heat exchanger using baseline water and Fe₂O₃ nanofluid at volume concentrations of 0.10% to 0.175% and flow rates of 1 to 2 LPM (liter per minute). The test-rig was operated at temperature of 70 °C for requirement. Initially, experiment was taken place using water coolant than operated by nanofluid. The whole experiment took place for measuring and analyzing friction factor, heat-transfer performance and pressure drop of a double-pipe heat exchanger using both fluids. However, nanofluid was prepared by certain volume concentration using hot plate and mechanical stirrer. The nanofluids stability was maintained up to 2 hours. Moreover, Reynolds number was set to analyze friction factor, and pressure drop of a double-pipe heat exchanger. The maximum friction factor was produced by Fe₂O₃ nanofluid compared to baseline water, and recorded as and 0.052 at a Reynolds number of 3530. The maximum increment in friction factor taken place 7% in under counter-flow conditions using Fe₂O₃ nanofluid. This enhancement attributed to increase due to more viscosity and density of Fe₂O₃ nanofluid than baseline water. This caused the overall reduction of Reynolds number of 3530. Additionally, pressure drop took place higher for Fe₂O₃ nanofluid compared to the water. More pressure drop caused the more pumping power consumption approximately by 6%. Thus, overall results increased the heat-transfer performance, and effectiveness of double-pipe heat exchanger using Fe₂O₃ nanofluid compared to conventional baseline water made it a suitable and best fluid for industrial applications.