PRESSURE DROP CHARACTERISTICS OF NANOFLUID FLOW IN A HORIZONTAL COILED TUBE UNDER CONSTANT HEAT FLUX

In the present study, an investigation of pressure drop characteristics of CuO-Base oil nanofluid laminar flow inside a horizontal helically coiled tube with constant heat flux boundary condition has been experimentally carried out. The nanofluid is prepared by dispersion of CuO nanoparticles in base oil and stabilized by means of an ultrasonic device. Particle weight fraction is ranging from 0 to 2%. The uniform and constant heat flux produced by an electrical heating coil wrapped around the coiled tube. The required data were acquired for laminar fully developed regime. The effect of different parameters such as fluid temperature, nanofluid particles concentration and mass velocity on the pressure drop characteristics in helically coiled tube for laminar fully developed regime is investigated. The results show that by using the helically coiled tube instead of the straight one, the pressure drop is increased. Also, the pressure drop increasing is happened by using nanofluid instead of base fluid. However, this increase is small compared to the increase resulted by using helically coiled tube. Observations also show that by increasing of mass velocity and concentration of nanoparticles in nanofluid, the pressure drop increasing is more pronounced.