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Experimental characterization of laminar

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Article in International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer · August 2017

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.03.040

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 International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111 (2017) 500–507

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

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

Experimental characterization of laminar forced convection

of hBN-water nanofluid in circular pipe
_
Beybin Ilhan, Hakan Ertürk ⇑
_
Boğaziçi University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Istanbul 34342, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recently developed hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) containing nanofluids are relatively new class of
Received 22 June 2016 materials, and increase in their thermal conductivity with respect to base fluid is relatively higher than
Received in revised form 3 March 2017 that of viscosity. This study focuses on convective heat transfer characteristics of hBN-water nanofluids,
Accepted 12 March 2017
and thermally developing laminar forced convection of hBN nanofluids in a horizontal copper pipe, sub-
jected to constant heat flux boundary condition, is investigated experimentally. hBN-water nanofluids,
with a particle volume concentration range of 0.1–1% are considered for a Reynolds numbers’ range of
Keywords:
800–1700. Measured thermophysical properties of hBN-water based nanofluids are used in predicting
Nanofluid
Colloid
the heat transfer behavior based on measurements. It is observed that the enhancement in the convective
Boron nitride heat transfer coefficient of hBN-water nanofluids is proportional to the observed thermal conductivity
Convective heat transfer enhancement. Therefore, there is no abnormal enhancement in the measured Nusselt number, and mea-
Laminar flow sured values are in good agreement with predictions by standard laminar thermally developing flow
Nusselt number correlations.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
During the progress of applications of thermal sciences, many
efforts and improvements have been devoted to heat transfer area
not only for designing high efficiency systems, but also for sustain-
ing safe operation of devices and systems. One way of enhancing
heat transfer is to design and develop advanced materials that
exhibit improved heat transfer behavior. Developing advanced
heat transfer fluids have been a research interest for decades and
employing solid additives to conventional heat transfer fluids such
as water, mineral oil, ethylene glycol, is often considered to
improve the base fluid properties. While initial studies considered
heat transfer fluids with millimeter or micrometer sized particles
[1,2], these suspensions have significant problems. The micro or
millimeter sized particulate suspensions exhibit very poor stability
leading to rapid sedimentation of particles, and their use may arise
problems related to poor thermal performance, significant increase
in pressure drop due to clogging, agile wearing of materials due to
abrasion [3].
In recent years, colloidal suspensions of nanometer sized parti-
cles, that are also known as nanofluids, are introduced by Choi [4]
and they have attracted great interest of scientists and engineers.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: hakan.erturk@boun.edu.tr (H. Ertürk).
Nanofluids are considered as the next generation heat transfer flu-
ids by many as the observed increase in their thermophysical prop-
erties exceed that of predicted by effective medium theories [5,6].
Colloidal suspensions of nanoparticles are believed to have supe-
rior characteristics compared to micro or millimeter sized suspen-
sions due to their greater thermophysical properties, including
minimizing the pumping penalty, better long term stability and
shelf life [6,7]. Predominant method of producing nanofluids is
the two-step method, in which the dry nanoparticles are intro-
duced into base fluids with additional sedimentation and agglom-
eration preventing treatments such as ultrasonic mixing, pH
adjustment and surfactant usage [8,9].
Over the last two decades, the thermal conductivity and viscos-
ity change of nanofluids have been investigated by many studies of
various research groups [3,6]. While some studies reported anoma-
lous increase in thermal conductivity beyond the predictions of
effective medium theories, such as those predicted by correlations
proposed by Maxwell, Bruggeman or Hamilton and Crosser [10],
there are other studies reporting thermal conductivity increase
similar to or less than these predictions [6,10]. Several theories
have been proposed for explaining the observed anomalous con-
ductivity enhancement. According to one, Brownian motion of
nanoparticles within the fluid creates micro-convection effects,
enhancing the energy transfer [11,12]. Therefore, thermal conduc-
tivity predictions relying on the correlations based on this theory

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.03.040
0017-9310/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 _
B. Ilhan, H. Ertürk / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111 (2017) 500–507
such as those by or Koo and Kleinstreuer [13] tend to exceed those
based on effective medium theories for relatively lower viscosity
base fluids where effects of Brownian motion is more effective.
One of the main drawbacks of such correlations is that they are
mostly semi-empirical, relying on constants estimated from exper-
imental data, and they are valid for limited nanoparticle-base fluid
combinations. According to another, there exists a highly-ordered
liquid layer with relatively higher conductivity, referred as the
nano-layer, surrounding nanoparticles increasing the overall
energy transfer rate. Correlations that consider the existence of
the nanolayer are developed by modifying effective medium theo-
ries based on theoretically estimated nanolayer thickness to match
experimental data [14,15]. Another theory suggests that nanopar-
ticle aggregations can create paths for efficient energy transport
due to percolation and the anomalous increase can be attributed
to cluster effective paths, enabling enhanced heat conduction
[16]. Xuan et al. [17] claimed that fractal dimension is a suitable
parameter to quantify the aggregate structures and they developed
a new correlation. While correlations based on different mecha-
nisms, and various particle-base fluid combinations exits, there
exists no generalized theory and expression that is valid for all
types of fluid-particle combinations. Therefore, experimental stud-
ies are still considered as essential for understanding behavior of
different types of nanofluids.
There are also many other experimental studies, focusing not
only on the change in thermophysical properties, but also on char-
acterization of the convective heat transfer behavior of nanofluids.
Wen and Ding [18] investigated Al2O3-water nanofluids under
laminar flow and concluded that there is a significant enhance-
ment in the entrance region and the enhancement decreases along
the axial direction. Rea et al. [19] studied Al2O3 water nanofluids
under laminar flow, and reported that enhancement in convective
heat transfer coefficient is more distinct at the fully developed
region. However, the observed enhancement in the fully developed
region cannot be identified as anomalous considering the measure-
ment limits. Convective heat transfer characteristics of propanol
nanofluids containing Al2O3, was investigated by Sommer and
Yerkes [20], within a large Reynolds number range. For Reynolds
numbers between the range of 1000–2800, they reported that
there is no abnormal enhancement beyond the thermophysical
property increase. However, beyond Reynolds number of 2800,
they observed decrease in convective heat transfer rate. Ding
et al. [21] reported a significant heat transfer coefficient increase,
up to 350% at Re = 800, for multi walled carbon nanotube
(MwCNT)-water nanofluids, in laminar flow regime and claimed
that convective heat transfer enhancement was dependent on the
axial direction on the test section. Hwang et al. [22] studied
Al2O3-water nanofluids in laminar flow and reported that the
enhancement in convective heat transfer coefficient was beyond
the increase in thermal conductivity enhancement and measured
quantities cannot be predicted by standard theoretical
correlations.
Baby and Ramaprabhu [23] investigated thermophysical prop-
erties and convective heat transfer characteristics of the hydrogen
exfoliated graphene containing nanofluids with two different base
fluids, DI water and ethylene glycol (EG). They observed drastically
larger enhancement in convective heat transfer compared to that
of thermal conductivity. Wang et al. [24] observed CNT-water
nanofluids under laminar flow regime and found that heat transfer
enhancement reached up to 190% for a volume concentration of
0.24% at a Reynolds number of 120. They observed that enhance-
ment in convective heat transfer behavior was far more than the
increase in thermal conductivity and the increase in pumping
power very small, making such nanofluids good candidates for
potential applications. Convective heat transfer characteristics of
graphene–water nanofluid in laminar flow was investigated by
501
Zanjani et al. [25]. They found 14.2% enhancement in convection
heat transfer coefficient, where the thermal conductivity enhance-
ment was 10.3% for a volume concentration of 0.02% at a Reynolds
number of 1850. Esfe et al. [26] investigated, double-walled CNT-
water nanofluids in turbulent flow in a double tube heat exchan-
ger. They stated that even with the small amount of particle load-
ings such as 0.4% volume concentration, heat transfer
enhancement reached up to 32% with 20% increase in pressure
drop. Esmaeilzadeh et al. [27] worked with c-Al2O3–water nanoflu-
ids under laminar flow regime. Results showed that heat transfer
coefficient increased up to 6.8% and 19.1% for volume concentra-
tions of 0.5% and 1%, respectively. Another notable result they out-
lined was that heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing
heat flux.
While convective heat transfer of nanofluids depends on several
different interactions based on many studies in the literature, there
is no consensus among the reported results [28–30]. Such discrep-
ancy can be attributed to many factors including; differences in
nanoparticles’ shape and size, preparation methods of nanofluids
under different conditions. Nanofluids containing even the very
same nanoparticles have resulted in different characteristics in
terms of thermal behavior. Therefore, there is a need for more
experimental investigations in regards to convection heat transfer
of nanofluids including different materials and nanoparticles.
Boron nitride is a ceramic material with different crystal struc-
tures. Hexagonal form of boron nitride (hBN) has versatile proper-
ties, such as chemical inertness and high in-plane thermal
conductivity which makes it a good candidate for heat transfer
applications. Considering the fact that hBN nanofluids are rela-
tively new class of materials, there are limited studies within the
literature in terms of characterization of BN nanofluids [31–35].
Existing literature on hBN nanofluids focuses on the stability, ther-
mal conductivity, rheological behavior and lubrication properties
of hBN nanofluids. While there are, many studies investigating
the convection heat transfer of metal oxide, graphene and CNT
[28,30] containing nanofluids, there is no prior study in the litera-
ture for hBN nanofluids’ forced convective heat transfer behavior.
Recently, it was found that the increase in hBN-water nanofluids’
thermal conductivity exceeds the increase in viscosity, making
them promising heat transfer fluids for various engineering sys-
tems [31]. Therefore, there is a certain need for studies investigat-
ing the convective heat transfer behavior for hBN nanofluids. This
study focuses on laminar forced convection of hBN-water nanoflu-
ids in a circular copper pipe and identifies the change in heat
transfer coefficient with respect to the base fluid to address this
need. As the study is carried out experimentally, a setup is built
and validated first, and the convective heat transfer behavior of
hBN-water nanofluids is then identified and reported for laminar
flow.
2. Experimental set-up and methodology
An experimental test setup is developed and manufactured con-
sidering laminar thermally developing flow in a uniformly heated
circular copper pipe so that local heat transfer coefficient can be
measured. The test setup is first validated by experiments using
DI-water. It is then used for testing hBN-water nanofluids with dif-
ferent particle volume concentrations, and flow rates. The nanoflu-
ids tested in this study are produced by a two-step method using
ultra-sonication and surfactant addition to achieve stability. Ther-
mal conductivity and viscosity of the nanofluids are measured
prior to testing their convective behavior. In order to investigate
the effects of testing conditions on nanofluid samples, thermo-
physical properties of hBN nanofluids are also measured right after
the conducted laminar flow experiments.
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B. Ilhan, H. Ertürk / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111 (2017) 500–507
2.1. Experimental system
A schematic of the constructed experimental system for this
study is shown in Fig. 1. The test system is designed and built for
identifying forced convective heat transfer coefficient in the hori-
zontally oriented circular copper pipe, subjected to uniform heat
flux. Experimental system consists of a test unit where the fluid
is heated, a cooling unit, reservoir, and pump. The test unit is con-
structed of a horizontal straight copper tube with approximately
2 m length, 6 mm inner and 8 mm outer diameter. The first 0.5 m
length of the tube is left unheated so that the flow hydrodynami-
cally develops before it is subjected to uniform heat flux boundary
condition.
The heated section of the test unit is first electrically insulated
with fiberglass sleeves, then helically coiled bare nichrome heater
wire is uniformly wrapped around the copper pipe to provide uni-
form heat flux along the heated section. The AC powered heater is
controlled by a potentiometer and the maximum applied power is
450 W. Heater wire is then coated with zinc phosphate based
cement layer to provide uniform heating. The coated heater is
firmly wrapped with fiber-glass electric insulation tapes. A thick
thermal insulation layer is applied to minimize the heat loss to
the environment. Six T-type thermocouples (Omega Inc.;
rT = ±0.5 °C) are mounted with thermal epoxy on the test tube wall
at dimensionless axial locations (x/D) of 18.8, 72.5, 97.5, 140, 183,
251 starting from the beginning of the heated section. Two T-type
thermocouples (Omega Inc.; rT = ±0.5 °C) are submerged into the
flow to measure the fluid temperature at the inlet and exit of the
heating unit. In order to measure the mean temperature correctly,
a connector and a valve is placed in between the heating section of
the test unit and section where exit mean temperature is measured
to ensure mixing of the fluid prior to the measurement. All the
thermocouples are calibrated with constant temperature water
bath prior to be mounted on the test setup. The data is recorded
using a data acquisition system (Agilent 34970A). The temperature
values of tube wall surface and fluid are recorded for a duration,
after the system reaches steady state, and time averaged values
over this duration are considered.
To achieve a steady state, heated fluid flows through a counter
flow concentric tube heat exchanger, connected to a chiller (Poly-
Fig. 1. Schematic of experimental system.
sat 12920) before it returns to the reservoir. The flow is provided
by a centrifugal pump (Iwaki RD-20) that is linked to a reservoir
placed right after the cooling unit. The flow rate is measured by
a turbine flow meter (rm = 1% of the reading) and it is adjusted
using a valve.
Throughout the duration of the entire convection experiments,
the test setup is cleaned using pressurized water before and after
each experiment, to eliminate any possible nanoparticle
contamination.
2.2. Preparation and characterization of nanofluids
Two step method is used in this study for preparation of sample
nanofluids. As detailed explanation of hBN-water nanofluid prepa-
ration is presented in [31], a brief presentation is provided here for
the completeness of discussion. 70 nm sized hBN nanoparticles,
with 99.5% purity (purchased from MK Impex Corp.) are used in
the sample preparation procedure. The morphology of dry
nanoparticles is characterized by ESEM imaging (Philips XL30
ESEM-FEG/EDAX) prior to preparation of hBN nanofluids, and a siz-
ing comparison between manufacturer’s data and the observed
sizes of aggregated particles, that may be formed due to trans-
portation and storage conditions, is carried out. As can be seen in
Fig. 2, hBN’s primary particles have a platelet alike shape with a
mean diameter between 60–80 nm, but aggregates are formed
with an average size at least 4 times larger than the manufacturer’s
specifications. Therefore, processes such as ultrasonication and
surfactant addition must be employed in two step method to
reduce the agglomerate sizes to obtain well dispersed nanofluid
solutions. Considering the hydrophobic nature of hBN in polar liq-
uids, such as water, a stability study is conducted with surfactant
material, poly-vinyl-pyrolidone (PVP K30) [31]. PVP is employed
with different weight concentrations, depending on particle load-
ing of the nanofluids. Long term stability of hBN-water nanofluids
are achieved through using ultrasonication and surfactant materi-
als. 0.05% weight concentrated PVP is employed for 0.1% and 0.5%
volume concentrated nanofluids and 0.1% weight concentrated PVP
is added to and 1% volume concentrated hBN nanofluids. The sole
effect of surfactant material on base fluid thermophysical proper-
ties are found to be insignificant, and the change in both thermal
 _
B. Ilhan, H. Ertürk / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111 (2017) 500–507
Fig. 2. ESEM image showing aggregate state of dry hBN nanoparticles.
conductivity and viscosity is within the measurement uncertain-
ties. Details of this study can be found in [31]. In addition to ther-
mal conductivity and viscosity change caused by surfactant,
experiments are conducted to observe PVP’s effect on base fluid’s
convective heat transfer performance and it is found that surfac-
tant containing base fluid’s behavior does not deviate from that
of DI-water only.
After obtaining well dispersed nanofluids, the morphology of
the dispersed particles within the liquid media and the nanoparti-
cle agglomerations are observed with a scanning transmission
electron microscope (STEM) (Philips XL30 ESEM-FEG/EDAX). As
can be seen from Fig. 3(a) and (b), where morphology of hBN-
water nanofluids with 0.1% and 0.5% particle volume concentration
is presented, most of the large clusters formed by densely popu-
lated primary particles of dry form seen in Fig. 2 are broken down
during the production process. The dispersion state of the particles
can be considered as polydispersed with local cluster formations
and dynamically free particles coexisting, where the hBN nanopar-
ticles align in a loose chain like structure that appears as an inter-
connecting network, or percolating structure, acting as a heat
conducting path within the liquid media.
Thermal conductivity measurements are conducted at 25 °C by
thermal conductivity analyzer employing transient hot wire
method (Decagon KD2 Pro) with a standard deviation of measure-
ments approximately by 3.2%. The accuracy of the thermal conduc-
tivity measurements is validated by measuring the thermal
conductivity of common liquids such as DI water, EG and glycerol,
at a temperature range of 20–25 °C and the obtained results are in
good consistency with corresponding data provided in literature. A
cone-plate rheometer (Brookfield DV-III Ultra) is used to measure
the viscosity of nanofluids at 25 °C. While the uncertainty of the
viscosity measurements change with the shear rate and the viscos-
ity range, and the maximum error is 0.1% of the full range of
Fig. 3. STEM images of water dispersed hBN nanofluids (a) 0.1% volume concentration, (b) 0.5% volume concentration.
503
measurable viscosity at the specified shear rate. The accuracy of
rheological behavior measurements is validated by measuring
the viscosity of common liquids such as DI water and EG subject
to different shear rates, and results show that measurements are
in good agreement with the data provided in literature. hBN-
water nanofluids exhibit Newtonian behavior for all the particle
volume concentrations considered in this study (within a shear
rate range of 375–1850 s
1). Thermal conductivity and viscosity
increase ratios of nanofluids compared to base fluids are presented
in Fig. 4. The specific heat and density of the nanofluids are calcu-
lated based on simple mixture rule that can be presented as;
qnf ¼ ð1
uÞqbf þ uqp ð1Þ
ð1
uÞqbf cp;bf þ uqp cp;p
cp;nf ¼ ð2Þ
qnf
where u is the particle volume concentration of the suspension,
subscripts p, bf and nf indicate the particle, base fluid and nanofluid
properties, respectively. The properties for dry hBN nanoparticles
are adopted from NIST [36].
2.3. Data analysis
The calculation of the local heat transfer coefficient based on
Newton’s law of cooling can be summarized as follows:
q00
hx ¼ ð3Þ
T s ðxÞ
T m ðxÞ
where q00 , Ts(x), Tm(x) represent the applied heat flux, wall temper-
ature and mean temperature of the fluid at a given axial position,
x, along the test section, respectively. The thermocouples are
mounted on the outer surface of the tube, and the difference
504 _
B. Ilhan, H. Ertürk / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111 (2017) 500–507

1.2 to the applied heat flux must be predicted in a similar way. The
knf /kbf Exp.hBN-Water applied heat flux to the system can be defined by
μ / μ Exp.hBN-Water _ p
mc
q00 ¼
nf bf
ðT m;o
T m;i Þ ð9Þ
1.15
pDh L
and the corresponding uncertainty can be defined as;
"
2
00 2
00 2 #1=2
knf /kbf , μ nf /μbf

@q00 @q @q
1.1 rq00 ¼ r
_ m_
þ rT þ rT ð10Þ
@m @T m;o @T m;i

The study considers thermal entry length of laminar forced convec-

tion in a circular test unit subject to uniform heat flux. For these
1.05 conditions a correlation proposed by Churchill and Ozoe [38] can
be used for defining the Nusselt number that is given as
"

10=9 #3=10
Nux þ 1 220 þ
1 ¼ 1þ x ð11Þ
5:364 p
0 0.1 0.5 1 where,
ϕ[%] x
xþ ¼ ð12Þ
Fig. 4. Measured properties of hBN-water nanofluids.
Dh ReD Pr
The measurement uncertainty can be predicted considering the
Churchill and Ozoe [38] correlation and presented uncertainty anal-
between inner and outer wall surface temperatures of the copper
ysis. The relative uncertainty of the measurement setup, rh(x)/hx
test tube is estimated as approximately 0.1 °C for the applied heat
and rNu(x)/Nux, is presented in Fig. 5. It can be observed that result-
fluxes. The mean temperature of the fluid at any axial location along
ing uncertainty in Nusselt number for the system is bounded by 7%,
the test section can be defined as:
whereas uncertainty of the heat transfer coefficient is bounded by
q00 pDh x approximately 5%.
T m ðxÞ ¼ T m;i þ ð4Þ
mc_ p
3. Results and discussion
where Tm,i is the mean temperature of the fluid at the inlet. Combin-
ing Eqs. (3) and (4) local heat transfer coefficient can be redefined
Before conducting the experiments on nanofluids, the con-
as;
structed test setup is validated with consecutive experiments by
q00 using deionized (DI) water at different Reynolds numbers. For the
hx ¼ pDh x 00 ð5Þ
T s ðxÞ
T m;i
q mc validation study, the measured quantities are compared to the
_ p
estimations based on correlation by Churchill and Ozoe [38]. The
The local Nusselt number is defined as; measured and predicted local heat transfer coefficients for ther-
mally developing, laminar, forced convection of water subjected
hx Dh to uniform heat flux for Reynolds numbers of 1200 and 1600 are
Nux ¼ ð6Þ
k presented in Fig. 6. Results indicate that there is a reasonable agree-
ment between the theoretical predictions and experimental values
2.4. Experimental uncertainties

Single sample measurement uncertainty, explained by Kline

hx
and McClintock [37], is adopted to calculate the uncertainty of
Nu x
the experimental heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number. 15
"
2
2
2
2 #1=2
@hx @hx @hx @hx
Relative Uncertainity [%]

rh ðxÞ ¼ r
_ m_
þ rT þ rT þ rq00
@m @T s @T m @q00
ð7Þ 10
2 !2
2
2
2
@Nux @Nux @Nux @Nux
rNu ðxÞ ¼ 4 rm_ þ rT þ rT þ r q00

@m
_ @T s @T m @q00

2 #1=2 5
@Nux
þ rk ð8Þ
@k

As can be seen from the Eqs. (7) and (8), the uncertainties of mea-
sured heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number are dependent
0
upon the uncertainties of flow rate, temperature, heat flux and ther- 0 50 100 150 200
mal conductivity measurements. While uncertainties in regard to x/Dh
flow rate, temperature and thermal conductivity measurements
are presented in the previous sections, the uncertainty with regards Fig. 5. Calculated relative uncertainty along with test section.
 _
B. Ilhan, H. Ertürk / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111 (2017) 500–507 505

tions of 0.1, 0.5 and 1%, respectively, which is similar to that of

Exp. Water ReD=1200
thermal conductivity enhancement observed in Fig. 4.
1200 Water-Churchill and Ozoe [38] ReD=1200
Exp. Water ReD=1600 This is also clearly observed when the predictions of local heat
Water-Churchill and Ozoe [38] ReD=1600 transfer coefficient along axial direction by the Churchill and Ozoe
correlation are compared to measurements. The changes in the
local heat transfer coefficient along the axial distance for nanoflu-
900 ids with 0.5% hBN volume concentration at Reynolds numbers of
hx [W/m2-K]

600
300
0 100 200
x/Dh
Fig. 6. Comparison of experimental local heat transfer coefficient and predictions
from theoretical correlation by Churchill and Ozoe [38] for ReD = 1200 and 1600 for
DI water.
within the range of measurement uncertainty. Similar comparisons
are also carried out for a broad range of Reynolds numbers, and
complementary agreements are observed.
Following the validation of the measurement setup, systematic
experiments are conducted over a Reynolds number range of 800–
1700 with hBN-water nanofluids with different particle volume
concentrations. The experiments at the corresponding Reynolds
numbers (±50) are first conducted with DI water to establish a
baseline measurement, and investigate enhancement with respect
to it. The change in the local heat transfer coefficient along the
axial direction for nanofluids with 3 different hBN volume concen-
trations, 0.1, 0.5, 1%, are presented in Fig. 7 for Reynolds numbers
of 900 and 1700, respectively. While heat transfer coefficient
increases with increasing particle loading, the rate of enhancement
with respect to base fluid seems to be similar throughout the
developing region. Moreover, as a distinctive remark, the enhance-
ment is independent of Reynolds number. The heat transfer
enhancement is approximately 7, 10, 15% for volume concentra-
800, 1200 and 1600 are presented along with predictions from
the Churchill-Ozoe [38] correlation in Fig. 8. It can be observed that
measured results are in good agreement with the predictions by
the correlation, and the enhancement in the heat transfer coeffi-
cient is similar to thermal conductivity enhancement for the pre-
scribed volume fraction.
Similar conclusions can also be drawn from Fig. 9, where local
Nusselt number change for the same nanofluids with same Rey-
nolds numbers of 900 and 1700 are presented. While no increasing
trend can be observed with increased particle loading, all mea-
sured values fall within measurement uncertainty range of predic-
tions of Churchill and Ozoe [38] correlation. These results confirm
that the observed enhancement in convective heat transfer is
mainly due to increasing thermal conductivity and there is no
apparent additional mechanism that contributes to the heat trans-
fer enhancement.
Although the heat transfer enhancement with respect to base
fluid, does not change with changing Reynolds number (Fig. 7),
the local heat transfer coefficient at a given axial location changes
with Reynolds number for developing flow. The change in local
heat transfer coefficient at two different axial locations,
x/Dh = 18.8 and x/Dh = 251, is presented in Fig. 10 for Reynolds
numbers varying between 800 and 1700. The presented results
are consistent with theory and more pronounced increase is
observed at the entrance than as the flow develops as expected.
The complete data set is presented in Fig. 11 that confirms the
observations outlined earlier. Based on this, the convection heat
transfer enhancement for the hBN-water nanofluids is due to the
increase in thermal conductivity and no additional heat transfer
enhancement mechanism is observed. Therefore, for laminar ther-
mally developing flows theoretical correlations can be used to pre-
dict the heat transfer behavior.
Therefore, using hBN-water nanofluids increases the convective
heat transfer rate proportional to the increase observed in thermal
conductivity for the laminar flow regime. Moreover, no abnormal

Exp. Water ReD=900

0.1% hBN-Water ReD=900 0.5% hBN-Water ReD=800
0.5% hBN-Water ReD=900
1500 0.5% hBN-Water ReD=1200
1250 x 1% hBN-Water ReD=900 0.5% hBN-Water ReD=1600
Water-Churchill and Ozoe [38] ReD=900 Churchill and Ozoe [38] ReD=800
Exp. Water ReD=1700 Churchill and Ozoe [38] ReD=1200
0.1% hBN-Water ReD=1700
Churchill and Ozoe [38] ReD=1600
0.5% hBN-Water ReD=1700
1% hBN-Water ReD=1700
Water-Churchill and Ozoe [38] ReD= 1700
1200
h [W/m -K]

hx [W/m -K]

1000
2

x
900
750

x
x x 600
x
x
500

0 100 200 0 100 200

x/Dh x/Dh

Fig. 7. Local heat transfer coefficient of 0.1, 0.5, 1% hBN-water nanofluids for Fig. 8. Measured and theoretical local heat transfer coefficient of 0.5% hBN
ReD = 900 and 1700. nanofluid for ReD = 800, 1200, 1600.
506 _
B. Ilhan, H. Ertürk / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111 (2017) 500–507

15
Exp.-Water ReD =900
0.1% hBN-Water ReD =900
0.5% hBN-Water ReD =900 Exp.Water
x 1% hBN-Water ReD =900
12 Water-Churchill and Ozoe [38] ReD=900 12 0.1% hBN-water
Exp.-Water ReD =1700 0.5% hBN-water
0.1% hBN-Water ReD =1700 1% hBN-water
0.5% hBN-Water ReD =1700
Water-Churchill and Ozoe [38]
1% hBN-Water ReD =1700
Water-Churchill and Ozoe [38]
9
9
Nux

Nux
x
6
6
x
x x
x x
3

0 100 200
0
x/Dh 0.015 0.03 0.045
x/(D ReD Pr)
Fig. 9. 0.1, 0.5, 1% hBN-water nanofluids’ local Nusselt number change along the
axial direction for ReD = 900 and 1700. Fig. 11. The change in the all experimental Nusselt number along the test section.

results stating that the change in convective heat transfer charac-

2400
teristics can be dominantly dependent on the thermophysical
Theoretical Water at x/D h=18.8
0.5% hBN-Water x/D h=18.8
property change of nanofluids can also be seen in other studies
2100 1% hBN-Water x/D h=18.8 such as [28,39,40]. Besides results corresponding to experimental
Theoretical Water at x/D h=251
0.5% hBN-Water x/D h=251 investigation of heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids, similar
1800
1% hBN-Water x/D h=251 patterns can be observed from theoretical approaches, Avramenko
et al. [41] stated that as a result of their simulations, increase in
hx [W/m2 -K]

convective heat transfer behavior is proportional to that of thermal

1500 conductivity. Same trend is also observed from turbulent convec-
tive heat transfer [42].
1200 It was mentioned earlier that all the sample nanofluids’ thermal
conductivity and viscosity values are measured before and after
the convection experiments. Moreover, the samples are kept fur-
900
ther to investigate their temporal stability. While more discussion
on the stability of hBN-water nanofluids is presented in [31],
600 results show that thermophysical properties of the hBN-water
nanofluids remains identical with high level of stability even after
numerous tests proving that the testing procedure does not cause
900 1200 1500
any significant change or deterioration in the tested nanofluids. It
ReD can be concluded that hBN-water nanofluids can be considered
as promising candidates for future thermal engineering applica-
Fig. 10. Nanofluid local heat transfer coefficient change with Reynolds number at 2 tions with their temporally stable properties, and improved ther-
different axial locations, (x/Dh = 18.8 and 251).
mal performance.

increase in heat transfer coefficient is observed, as no increase

beyond the measurement uncertainty is observed for Nusselt num-
ber. The observed behavior can be explained by taking a closer look
at the morphology of the hBN-water nanofluids. It can be observed
in Fig. 3, and it is stated in [31] that the dominant thermal
enhancement mechanism of hBN-water nanofluids are the
enhanced heat transfer rate through local percolating structures
and branching network like particle alignments, whereas the effect
of Brownian motion induced mixing is not as strong.
Similar results were also observed in the literature as explained
earlier. Sommers and Yerkes [20] worked with propanol-Al2O3
nanofluids, and they observed that the enhancement in convective
heat transfer can be attributed to the change in the thermophysical
property change, with no abnormal change in convective heat
transfer characteristics, with dimensionless parameter, Nu/Pr1/3,
remains unchanged. Rea et al. [19] investigated Al2O3-water
nanofluids and claimed that within particle volume concentration
range of 0.65–1.32%, no abnormal change in convective heat trans-
fer beyond the experimental uncertainty limits is observed. Similar
4. Conclusions
Convective heat transfer characteristics of hBN-water nanoflu-
ids in laminar thermally developing forced flow subjected to uni-
form heat flux in a circular pipe is investigated experimentally.
Stable hBN nanofluids with 3 different volume concentrations
(0.1, 0.5, 1%) are prepared with two step method and thermophys-
ical and morphological characterization of nanofluids are com-
pleted prior to convection heat transfer experiments. This study
considers laminar flow regime in a Reynolds number range of
800–1700.
It is found that at a constant Reynolds number, the enhance-
ment in the convective heat transfer coefficient is similar to the
increase in thermal conductivity within measurement uncertainty.
The heat transfer enhancement is approximately 7, 10, 15% for vol-
ume concentrations of 0.1, 0.5 and 1%, respectively. It can be con-
cluded that hBN-water nanofluids demonstrates convective heat
transfer characteristics of homogenous mixtures with different
 _
B. Ilhan, H. Ertürk / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111 (2017) 500–507
properties than water, leading no abnormal change in convective
heat transfer, and there is no measurable change in the corre-
sponding Nusselt numbers. Considering the thermal conductivity
and convective heat transfer enhancement of hBN-water nanoflu-
ids, the dominant enhancement mechanism behind the thermal
properties of hBN-water nanofluids can be local percolating struc-
tures and branching network like particle alignments. Moreover,
there is no other mechanism observed behind the convective heat
transfer other than thermal conductivity enhancement. It should
be noted that at constant Reynolds number for the considered
hBN-water nanofluids, flow rates are slowing with increasing par-
ticle volume concentration. Therefore, the results suggest that
using hBN-water nanofluids increases convective heat transfer
even at slower flow rates.
It was also observed that hBN-water nanofluids’ thermophysical
properties remains unchanged after the tests. Therefore, hBN-
water nanofluid can be considered as promising candidate for
future thermal engineering applications with its improved thermal
performance and stability.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank The Scientific and Technologi-
cal Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), for support under the
grant 111M177 of the 1001 Program.
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